¿Cómo andán?

How’s it going, friends?

For us it’s been a month filled with ups and downs, many uncertainties, some answers, but mostly just settling into a new routine. We are figuring some things out, one little step at a time. It feels like we’re in a season of transition.

One day a few weeks ago, I walked to a locally owned shop to get some chicken to roast for dinner, and I had such an enjoyable experience that I wanted to tell you guys about it. I’d been there before, so the owner, Nestor, knew me a bit.

“Hola, Em-ee-lee!”

He was as friendly as ever.

Since I was his only customer this time, he went out of his way to make my day. He didn’t have “pollo de campo” (farm raised chicken) in the fridge, but found some in the freezer, and offered to cut it into smaller pieces for me with his giant knife. I was grateful. The whole time, we were chatting about the cold weather, the snowy day outside, and he told me about his 3 kids. Nestor’s daughter lives in Ireland, his older son is a doctor in Brazil, and his youngest son lives here. He came around to where I was standing, and pointed out his kids and wife by name on the beautiful family photos he had hanging on the wall.

He finished up my order, and made sure to toss in a free sample of pork and beef chorizo (sausage), which was so delicious that we buy them now too. In fact, every time I go in, he offers us something new—like some tasty smoked cheese this past week.

Then, I walked down to another little grocery store where we like to buy our beef and had another great conversation with the guy there about hiking the big mountain, Piltriquitron here. He told me he thinks it’s better to hike it in the winter because in the summer it’s impossible to get drinking water up there. When I thought about all the snow, I just couldn’t imagine hiking it right now. Brrrr!!

As I was walking home, I realized that the experiences I’d just had are something we’ve mostly lost in the west—including in our last few years in El Salvador—with all the big box stores. You just don’t get this sort of experience when you go to Price Smart (the Costco of Central America) or Walmart.

Living in Argentina and shopping at the little locally-owned shops is a bit like what I’d picture life in old Italy to be like.

In Patagonia, they have a lot of farmers markets (ferias) and the one here runs 4 days a week. It’s fun to go down there and get local walnuts, honey, eggs, and jam, and support the local vendors. In fact we’ve become good friends with one of the ladies who sells jam, and have had some great charlas (conversations) with her whenever we go.

We’ve noticed that there are a lot of people here who know how to sew, knit, carve, make beautiful jewelry, grow and process their own food, and bake bread. Lots of these skills have been lost in the west, maybe because the majority of people have outsourced so many things in order to work full-time. I’m thankful that my mom taught us 5 kids so many of those skills. She has the most amazing garden every summer. And I’m hoping to grow a garden again soon.

The girls have made friends with a few of the neighborhood kids in our little townhouse complex in the last 6 weeks. I’ve realized recently that our 3 kids are actually bilingual now. That’s an amazing thing for Tom and me—and never would’ve happened had we not left Canada. Most Canadians “learn French” in high school, but in most cases can hardly speak it. “Why is that?” you might ask. It’s because there’s no immersion, no practical way to use it on a regular basis. I know a few people who’ve made it a priority to go to France for a year or 2, or live in Quebec, our French-speaking province, and they’re the ones who can still speak some French years later. “Use it or lose it!” right?!

In El Salvador, our girls didn’t speak that much Spanish. That may seem odd, but our girls were homeschooled and most of our friends there were English-speaking expats. Here in Argentina, we knew we’d all have to embrace the culture and the language—Castellano Rioplatense (Argentine Spanish)—fully to make it work. It’s been a huge learning curve, but we’ve all come a long way in 6 months. When I asked AI about Argentine Spanish, it felt like I got a bit of empathy…

Argentines use “vos” (you) instead of “tu” (you in most Spanish-speaking countries), which took us some getting used to, because it requires a different verb form. We’ve also discovered that there are different words for almost half of the items and lots of the verbs in this country too. Often when a local is speaking fast, their words seem to blend together, and I have a hard time making out the separate words. I find it much easier when I’m watching a video and there are Spanish subtitles, which obviously in real-life are NOT a thing! I have to be patient with myself…it’s an ongoing process.

Tom is ahead of me and understands more than I do. He’s put in more time and also had a lot of practice speaking and using Spanish in El Salvador with his job. And because kids’ brains can generally pick up languages faster than adults, our girls are all getting fluent fast. Sometimes they help me decipher what people are saying. I often call them my personal “traductoras” (translators). 😅

Currently, we’ve been trying to find good schools for each of our girls. In Argentina school hours are either 8:30am-12:30 pm or 1:30 pm to 5:30 pm. This meant that some schools only have spaces in the afternoon classes.

Our youngest is just a few months older than the other kids in second grade in Argentina, because they start the school year in February rather than September. The birthday cut-off here is June 30. So, it was posing a problem to keep her in grade 2, segundo grado.

We wanted her to join a private school that came highly recommended, which only goes up to segundo grado. She was excited to join, especially after doing a couple of trial days there. But, we had some hoops to jump through first because of her age. The principal, asked us to write a letter to the local “supervisión” of schools explaining that our 8-year-old has been doing grade 2 at home, and that because of the learning curve with the language, it probably makes more sense to keep her in grade 2 for now. We were so thankful when they approved it. 🙌🏼

She is excited to be part of the little class, and is already making some great friends. Our other girls are hoping to start school soon too—in fact, since I started writing this, they both have…and we now have all 3 kids in 3 different schools—living the “vida loca” a little these days! But, more on that in my next post.

We went up to the local ski hill a few weeks ago. We’d heard great things about it and were curious, so we thought we’d rent some sleds and check it out on a sunny Sunday afternoon. What an amazing few hours!

Our driver picked us up around 1pm. The Perito Moreno ski hill is about an hour from El Bolsón. When we arrived, we were thinking we could just use our sleds around the lower area where the ski runs all end, but there didn’t seem to be any place for sledding when we looked around. So we asked, and were told that we would have to take the chairlift up to the sledding area. It was going to cost us a quite a lot—but was actually pretty cheap by Canadian standards! At first we weren’t sure, but we thought it over for a minute—“We’re already here, and it’s a beautiful sunny day, so why not?!”

We got onto the lifts and were suddenly way up in the air, hanging from the sky, probably about 40 feet up in the air at some points. Looking around, the views were just incredible—snow-covered mountains in the distance, and the sun sparkling off the snow below us and all around!

After about 20 minutes of ascending, we arrived at the sledding area where skiers and snowboarders were zooming past. We noticed that there was another chairlift nearby going higher up the mountain. There were about 30 other people sledding in the designated area. The girls had an absolute blast—I think they’d all forgotten how fun sledding can be, after almost 5 years. They even did a race at one point—Tom was on a bigger sled with our youngest.

After about 45 minutes of sledding there, we decided to check out the top of the mountain. We got on the next chairlift and headed up, but after 10 minutes or so, the wind became something fierce! Two of our girls weren’t even wearing their jackets because they had gotten warm sledding, but suddenly with the intense wind, they started to freeze. When we arrived at the top, the wind was blowing tiny ice crystals onto our faces, which felt like prickly needles. This photo of my daughter kind of sums it up.

We didn’t see a sledding hill nearby, so Tom decided to walk up closer to the top of the mountain and see if he could find it. The girls and I stayed near the chairlift and decided to sled down some little hills, trying to stay out of the way of skiers and snowboarders rushing by. But we were so cold. Our two younger girls had recently gotten winter boots. For the rest of us, wool socks helped a bit, but hiking boots weren’t exactly keeping our toes warm up there.

We quickly realized that we needed to go back down—even with the sun shining, it was just way too cold at this elevation with the wind.

Finally, Tom came back down and said he hadn’t found anything and then when he’d tried to use his sled, someone had told him he wasn’t allowed to sled on his way back down from the top.

But what an amazingly beautiful place!

We got back on the chair lift, and as it took off, our oldest exclaimed,

“Look! The sledding area is RIGHT there!” pointing below us to the right.

Haha, we’d been so close to it that whole time!

We went back down to the first sledding hill and got a few more runs in before heading back down the mountain. It had been such a beautiful afternoon. And so much fun for our girls after 5 years of not doing any sledding! I was alone on the chairlift on the last 20 minutes, and just soaking in the stunning beauty…

I have so much more to write about, but it’s been such a busy month. I can’t even imagine having a job right now, with all 3 kids in different schools, our various groups in the evenings at the church, and ongoing Spanish lessons online for each of us. Not to mention, we’re flying back to El Salvador in less than 3 weeks!

I’m hoping to write again soon, but in the meantime, thank you each so much for your continued encouragement, and love. We appreciate all the little notes, thoughts, and prayers.

We need all of them these days!!!

Sending love from the Patagonian Andes!

¡Nos vemos pronto amigos!

We’ll see you again soon!

…Argentine-style 😄

It’s been about a month since my last post, and I have a fair bit to say…so grab a coffee and prepare for a 10-minute read! 😄

I’m feeling so blessed with all the gifts in our lives that have come through recently. Villa General Belgrano (in Córdoba province) was so good to us for the 6 weeks we spent there. We had time to relax, explore, spend time with friends, walk almost everywhere in the town…and we stayed in a comfortable, spacious house right next to a great meat shop, an organic produce store, and a big park for the girls to run around and enjoy!

We also did a road trip with our Kiwi friends to the other side of the Sierras Grandes mountains to the west of VGB.

We drove 3 hours, crossing over the Sierras and then stayed at an Airbnb near the town of Villa de las Rosas where Angela*, a friendly, hospitable lady, greeted us with hugs and kisses. We cooked up some steaks and made ourselves a delicious dinner. Angela had started a wood fire in the living room—where the girls all slept—but the bedrooms were chilly, so we stayed warm under several blankets. The next day we all went to the huge farmers market in Villa de las Rosas. There must’ve been around 100 vendors, with some amazing artisans and a whole row of people cooking up delicious-smelling ethnic foods from various countries. And Tom was excited to find this guy who bakes tasty gluten-free treats and breads.

We had an amazing time exploring a few small towns in the area, and enjoying mate by lakes and rivers in the afternoon sun. And this sunset that lit up the whole sky was such a gift for us all to witness!

That evening, we’d decided to eat out in San Javier, a small town with lots of cute clothing shops and cafes. As we looked for a place to eat, a local directed us to a restaurant across the street—it was filling up and looked quite popular. As we sat at our outdoor table, we remembered that a gaucho festival had been happening nearby—now dozens of gauchos were trotting by on their horses. That was fun to watch!

It was great to go and explore the other side of the mountains and see some of San Luis province including the big city of Merlo where we stopped for lunch, but it was Sunday, so most shops were closed. We returned back to VGB with our friends, after 2 fun days away, having enjoyed all the sight-seeing and exploring in nature.

We were wondering if we should stay put in Villa General Belgrano for the remainder of our time before returning to El Salvador in September. It would definitely be the convenient thing to do. But we still questioned if it was the best option for all of us. In April we’d spent a month in El Bolsón in northern Patagonia and had felt like it could be a future place for us to put down roots. We wondered if we should return to El Bolsón and the people who had welcomed us like family at the church there.

Decisions are often hard, but this one seemed especially hard for us. For about 2 weeks, we’d change our minds every few days.

Then we said, “It’s just too much money and hassle to go all the way back down there—let’s just stay here.”

“The expedient thing and the right thing are seldom the same thing.”

—Charles Hendrickson Brower

The next day, our landlord said they’d be raising the rent considerably, starting in July, so we began questioning yet AGAIN if we should return to El Bolsón.

And so, as we’d already been doing, we prayed. Lots. Tom and me separately, together, and all of us as a family. In April our oldest daughter had started to make friends at the church in El Bolsón, and we’d all loved those incredibly welcoming people, and the passionate, friendly pastor.

And as we thought about it more, we realized we needed to do the less convenient thing. To give you an idea of how far we’d have to travel (27 hours by bus), here’s a map of the route. It’s about 1,700 kilometers.

In the meantime the World Cup in fútbol (soccer for some of you) has been ongoing. Many businesses have an Argentine flag hanging in their window. Argentines are some incredibly patriotic people when it comes to fútbol. Lionel Messi, the top Argentine player—who is considered by some to be the world’s best fútbol player—can be seen everywhere, and was sitting on the sidewalk as we were out walking the other day.

Some of the things I mention in this post might seem like coincidences, but looking back, every one of them was an answer to our prayers, even prayers we prayed “silently” and talked about together later.

A video I stumbled upon about 2 months ago (of a young man who died and came back) inspired me that our prayers aren’t just words. He saw that prayers actually have substance. I’ll post a link at the end of this post for anyone who’s interested. I know many of you believe in God and the power of prayer. Or at one point in time you did. My aim is to encourage you that our prayers have power…not because of us, but because God hears and is powerful.

I just want to highlight all the answers that came in the form of blessings to us recently. Stick with me here, friends…

When Tom had messaged the pastor in El Bolsón (northern Patagonia) in mid-June, he’d asked him about mentoring him, and Pastor Rodrigo had heartily agreed to meet with him once a week.

And then less than a week later he died. Yes, the 51-year-old, charismatic, energetic, healthy pastor died. He’d gone to the hospital with a heart arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) and they gave him some medicine. It must’ve been too strong of a dose, because instead of helping him, it stopped his heart. Completely. He was gone. Yes, he was dead, leaving his lovely wife a widow, and their 3 kids without a father. Here’s a photo just to give you an idea—this man had been the picture of health!

Everyone who knew that he was in trouble was praying. We’d also been praying for them for 2 months since we’d met them, because we had sensed God’s presence in that church in such a tangible way, and they’d treated us like family.

And then, after 5 minutes of being dead, when the medics resuscitated him with the defibrillator paddles—which literally give the heart an electric shock to help jump-start it—he came back to life!! Tom messaged him about a week later—we’d heard that something had happened, but we didn’t know any details.

Rodrigo told him the story. He said he was now resting, but so excited about life! At this point, he’d been tested and told that his heart is completely healthy, and it’s likely the irregular heartbeat had been caused by over-exertion—he said he’s realized he needs to slow down.

“Dios es increíble!” he said.

I just talked to him last week. He must’ve said, “¡Gracias a Dios! ¡Fue un milagro!” 🙌🏼(Thanks be to God, it’s a miracle!) at least 5 times!

The rest of my post will seem bland compared to that story. But please stay with me…😅 Also, I know I’m jumping around a bit here, and this post isn’t completely chronological. Sorry!

We’d finally made our decision to make the long journey and return to El Bolsón. We were psyching up for another very long bus ride—like I said, 27 hours or so—back down to El Bolsón. But then Tom started looking at some flights. Those all seemed to be much more pricey than taking the bus.

Then, a few days later, some flights went on sale, and just on the right days for us. It felt like a sign—and an answered prayer. And instead of us all dreading the long bus journey, it felt exciting now that we could fly.

One big obstacle presenting itself still was finding a great place to stay in El Bolsón. Tom and I had been looking, but most places were either too small, wouldn’t rent out on a monthly basis, weren’t located close enough to be walkable, or many of the spacious places weren’t furnished.

We messaged a few landlords, and had a “back-up plan” if all else failed. The place we’d stayed for 2 weeks in April could work. But it had no living room, just an armchair next to the dining room table. And the wifi had been so weak, it didn’t even reach the bedroom, so Tom couldn’t set up a workspace. I also remembered that using the semiautomatic washing machine was more like a make-work project—Lol!

But, we knew one thing—we needed to go back to Patagonia!

At this point, the only part we needed to figure out was getting from Villa General Belgrano to the airport in Córdoba. It would mean taking 2-3 stop-and-start buses—requiring getting off and collecting our bags and then getting on another bus—or ordering 2 separate Ubers.

Just 4 days before our flight, we finally heard back from a landlord we’d messaged in El Bolsón who said they’d be happy to have us stay in one of their amply furnished townhouses—and the rent was even a bit cheaper than the place with no living room! Based on the photos, it looked like a well-equipped, modern house—it even had a photo of a new-looking couch, and a normal washing machine! 🙌🏼 Now we were all getting excited for our new home too.

Things were lining up. We just needed to figure out how to get to the Córdoba airport still.

Then, 3 days before our big journey, our very kind Kiwi friend, Jake* offered to drive us the 2-hours there. 🙌🏼 And, because he and Vicki had just signed a lease on a place with lots of space, they offered to store some of our extra things (like camping items) until our return in October! 🙏🏼

On July 1st, we got up early, finished packing up, and Jake met us with his spacious SUV. The 2-hour drive went smoothly, and we got ready to check in.

Of course, we were a bit nervous that our bags would be too heavy—we knew mine was for sure—and we’d have to pay extra. Then, Miguel*, a kind airline employee with a man-bun and a big smile, waved our two overweight bags through without any hesitation. 🎉

“¡Muchísima gracias, Miguel!” 🙏🏼

Our flight to San Carlos de Bariloche was short and sweet, less than 3 hours. And the mountain and lake views were spectacular.

Then we sat in the airport, got some overpriced dinner at the only restaurant there, while we waited for our bus. All things considered, everything had gone amazingly well.

As we rode the bus for a few hours, knowing that the temperature in El Bolsón was hovering around freezing, Tom and I were hoping and praying that the townhouse would have some heat on when we arrived.

Not only were we greeted with a warm house, but Cristina*, the lady checking us in, told us that the heat is “en el piso”—in the floors. Wait, what?! We’d never seen heated floors in this country before!

Wow, what a deluxe place!

When we went out the next day, we were sure in awe of the views. This mountain, Piltriquitron, is even more beautiful with snow.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Iglesia El Faro (the Lighthouse Church) is full of many beautiful people who had welcomed us with open arms—and cheek kisses—in April. Our two younger girls had joined the kids group, our oldest was in the youth group, and Tom had been to a men’s group.

I was feeling happy for all of them, but I’d been wondering how I’d make friends here, and was surprised I hadn’t heard about any women’s gatherings.

After only a few days here, I took our oldest to a huge youth gathering in a nearby town on Saturday night, and we didn’t get to bed till after 1am! That’s pretty normal in Argentina, but I was exhausted on Sunday, and because the younger girls had bad colds, I stayed home with them that evening.

When Tom and our eldest got back, he told me that there had been an announcement about a ladies’ group, and he had a number for me to contact. And so, at 9:30 pm, I messaged the lady, Marisa*, and asked her about it. She said I should come on Wednesday evening. As it turns out, Tom’s and my groups are studying the same book—Pastor Rodrigo’s book called Sin Límites (without limits).

Wednesday came, with lots of rain, and I was a bit nervous, but mostly excited to meet some other women. I walked a kilometer to the church, dodging huge puddles of water on the sidewalks and the edges of the roads.

Marisa met me at 6 pm with a big hug and a kiss. There were 9 other women who came, and they were all so friendly and welcoming, asking me about our family and our story, and sharing their mate 🧉 around the group. They’d all brought evening snacks—or as they say here “marienda.” If only I’d known they’d all be bringing food, I wouldn’t have eaten an early dinner! 😅 No one could believe I’d already eaten—Argentines often eat dinner at 10 or 11pm!

I was pleasantly surprised to be able to understand almost everything that was said that evening. Here’s the memory our leader sent us from that evening.

Afterwards, one lady offered me a ride home, and then we realized she happens to live just 2 blocks away from us and has 2 girls. She invited me to come and visit, and we went the other day and had a great conversation while our girls played together.

We still have lots to figure out here, but all of the blessings this past month have made Tom and me realize that we can TRUST that God is looking out for us, and cares about every detail—I mean, we don’t just have a couch, washing machine, and good wifi, we have HEATED FLOORS!!

Meanwhile, the World Cup goes on! 🏆 Argentines are so patriotic that we woke up last Saturday night to honking in the streets when Argentina won against Switzerland. I’d predicted that we wouldn’t sleep through the night if they won! 😅

My Spanish instructor who lives in Mendoza sent me this video she made after the England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 vs. Argentina 🇦🇷 game on Wednesday night. It was a fun game to watch, because England was in the lead awhile, but then Argentina made a comeback, and won. This was downtown Mendoza—and my instructor captured the Argentine spirit in this video.

Those are some excited Argentines! 🇦🇷

Because we don’t have a car yet, we’re doing lots of walking, as it’s about a kilometer to the center of town, so we’re getting plenty of exercise. There are also some quiet, more rural areas in this part of the city, great for running or walking.

I’m sure I could go on about even more of the gifts in our lives right now, but just to list a few:

• Our younger girls are spending hours playing with the neighbour kids who live in our tiny gated townhouse complex. Considering there are only 2 other families that live here, we’re so thankful the kids are similar ages to ours.

• Our Kiwi friends who’ve been in Argentina for a year are keeping us posted on how to navigate getting residency, so it doesn’t feel so daunting. We hope to begin the process in October.

• Even though we’re not that close to the center of town, we have a big grocery store and some meat and produce shops nearby.

• We didn’t have a place for our winter jackets, mittens, and toques—“gorros” here; “beanies” to some of you. But a guy in town was selling shelves for $20 on the street. Sometimes it’s the little things that make a big difference 😊

  

• There are so many health-conscious people in this town, and it’s easy to find local produce and honey. And there are lots of gluten-free options for Tom too.

• We all love having 4 seasons again, even if winter is a bit chilly. There’s a ski hill nearby that we still need to go visit. 🏔️

We know there will still be many challenges ahead, but we’re confident that our prayers are being heard, and even answered in ways we probably don’t even know about yet. And so we trust God with the future. 🙏🏼

Thanks to each of you for taking time to read this. It’s been over 4 years of writing, and I’m inspired by your ongoing encouragement—each of you! 🤗

Until next time, my family & friends 🩵

Hasta la próxima, familia y amigos😘

*names changed for privacy

P.S. I think this might encourage some of you, so I want to share this video with you, because I truly believe that there’s so much more to this life than what we can see. Here’s the link 🔗 for the video about Gabe Poirot’s experience in heaven ✨ for anyone interested. At around 11 minutes in, he talks about how he saw that our prayers have substance—he was out of his body at this point, & saw and heard his friend’s prayers! The whole story is just incredible. Some of it might seem crazy, but I highly recommend.

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Amigos, here’s the second instalment of our time since leaving northern Patagonia in early May. If you missed the first one, it’s here. We’ve been in the quaint little German-style city of Villa General Belgrano just south of Córdoba city now for about a month.

The touristy little city of about 12,000, first settled in the 1930’s, is situated between the Sierras Grandes and the Sierras Chicas mountain ranges in central Argentina. It was settled by many Germans, Swiss, Austrians, Dutch, local indigenous peoples, as well as Argentines from all around the country in the last century.

Leaving Mendoza, we’d decided to take an overnight bus to get to Córdoba province, from Mendoza city to Villa Carlos Paz. After an 11-hour night on the bus, arriving around 6:45 am, we once again had an Argentine breakfast of tea, coffee, and medialunas at the bus station. Tom had found a rental car in Carlos Paz for a great deal. We somehow crammed ALL of our suitcases and backpacks into the trunk and onto our laps—like a bunch of sardines, and made our way to Villa General Belgrano (VGB), less than two hours away.

It was a sunny morning when we arrived, and our American friend, Cam*—who had also lived in El Salvador—was happy to show us around this cute little city a bit. This place seems obsessed with “Oktoberfest” which brings in a LOT of tourists every year, and has statues of German men drinking beer everywhere you look! 🍺

VGB has a beautiful green space along the creek that runs through town, and with the fall colours, it’s breathtaking right now. So, we had a lovely walk along the creek, with Cam and his energetic dog, chatting as we went.

Soon, we came to a nice, Bavarian-style restaurant on the main street, Calle San Martín where we all had some brunch, which included dulce de leche (the famous Argentine sweet spread) and crema on toast.

We’ve stayed at a few different places in and around VGB. The first place we stayed, owned by a Russian family, is 20 minutes south of VGB near Santa Rosa. It was a beautiful place, but just so cold in that house—and the heaters didn’t seem to help much, especially when they’d run out of gas, which happened twice! I’d sometimes use the oven, just to try to get a bit warmer in the mornings at that house.

While staying there, we had a chance to go for a trail ride on horseback with a local “gaucha” named Daphne who owns 40 horses, as well as cows, sheep, pigs, ducks, and chickens on her ranch.

The girls enjoyed grooming and petting the horses before riding them. We all had such a great time, riding through the hills and fields on the ranch that day. My horse, Moreno, insisted on trotting or cantering whenever I’d let him.

I didn’t go on the second trail ride, the following week, as I was craving some alone-time, reading by the river. Tom took the girls, and his horse was quite competitive, so at one point when our oldest daughter’s horse started cantering, and got a bit ahead, his horse broke out into a gallop to get ahead of the other horse again.

Since we’ve been travelling, we have limited footwear options, so Tom’s wide runners didn’t fit into the stirrups—only his toes were in. When the horse broke into a gallop, Tom’s shoes quickly fell out of the stirrups, his saddle began to slip to the side, and before he knew it, he was on the ground. He broke his fall a bit with his hands, but bruised his left ribs quite badly, possibly even a small rib fracture. He also injured his left leg, and was hobbling for a few days afterwards. For over two weeks he was struggling with the pain from that fall.

He had just recovered from a lung infection on his right side (which the doctor said was quite possibly related to eating gluten) causing severe pain in his right chest! But just as the infection started to go away he had this horse accident. It has literally been one thing after another for him for the past two months, especially after all the gut issues that gluten was causing him.

Tom can relate to Job and his trials lately…

“If my misery could be weighed and all my troubles be put on the scales, they would outweigh all the sands of the sea."

— Job 6:2-3

Ok, I’m definitely exaggerating, but he has had quite the couple months or so of health issues and lots of pain! 😝

That first week staying near VGB, we did a scenic hike near the town of La Cumbrecita (“the little mountain top”), with Cam and his friendly dog.

We all enjoyed some delicious ice cream afterwards—Argentines know how to make amazing ice cream, possibly the best, and so many great flavours too, including dulce de leche! 😋

A few days later, Cam took us out, but this time to embrace Argentine culture by sitting by the river, sipping mate (“ma-tae”) Argentina’s traditional hot drink. If you’ve never had it, it’s basically hot water poured over ground up leaves (yerba mate) in a special little cup, and they drink it with a metal straw (la bombilla) that has a filter on the bottom, so the leaves won’t come through. People here like to sit in parks or by the river, chatting with friends or loved ones, relaxing and sharing mate.

The same mate cup is shared with every person in the group, and the “cebador” is the one with the thermos of hot water who pours new water into the cup and passes it around, each friend taking a turn with the cup. Mate culture is a huge part of the “tranqui” (relaxed) culture here which we love.

Most Argentines have a special mate bag to carry their thermos, cup, and the dried mate leaves with them. And every gift shop carries the mate leaves, mate cups, thermoses, and bags to hold some or all of the components.

We’ve also been spending some time here in VGB with our two Kiwi friends, Vicki and Jake*. They’ve taken us out to explore the area a few times in their 7-seater SUV. We drove up to the huge lake, Embalse Los Molinos, north of VGB, where they love to kite surf in the summer months.

One day as we were enjoying nature with them, we walked a trail by a pretty creek and then up a hill, where we came to a property with this friendly, spunky llama. We hung out with him for awhile, and he seemed to appreciate our company.

Vicki and Jake were living in El Salvador on the beach near us for awhile when we were first there. But it feels like we’re getting to know them better now! Vicki is into natural remedies and gut health, and I’m learning lots from her.

A couple weeks ago, they had us over for a proper asado (Argentine barbecue) when our mutual friend Cam was leaving to go to Córdoba city the next day. The steaks, ribs, and sausages were so delicious, and we all had a great visit.

After dinner the tortas, including mini cheese cakes, came out. Needless to say, we were all beyond stuffed by the end of that evening!

Because he was wanting to move to the big city, we moved into Cam’s rental house for a few weeks until his lease expires. It’s in an old church building, and is a beautiful, spacious place. The girls love how it’s across the street from a big park with a playground and space to bike around on Cam’s bike. My favourite thing is how big the kitchen is here. The living room, with the original rock walls and wood floors is so gorgeous. Cam told us that statue of the Mother Mary used to sit in the opening in the wall here.

Speaking of Mary, we did a little family hike up to the Cerro de la Virgen (Virgin's Hill) on Monday afternoon. It’s only about an hour from our place to the top, but it’s pretty steep. What a beautiful view we had of VGB and beyond! Even though it’s fall, there were plenty of people, including some runners on the trail.

You could say we’re in a season of transition right now, friends. It’s hard not knowing for sure what we’ll be doing 5 months from now. But, we do know that we all like Argentina, and our girls are all hoping to be in a school with friends next year…or possibly sooner!

The girls are each doing 3 Spanish lessons a week with Argentine teachers right now. And they’re always teaching the rest of us new words afterwards! Tom and I are also doing two lessons a week, and it’s sometimes daunting how much we still need to learn, but also fun to practice our new words and phrases with each other as a family. We have a few lists on the fridge that we all review daily. Some phrases they use here can be quite crude if translated literally—we don’t use those—but Argentines are known for being blunt, and for speaking their minds!

There is a lot of Spanglish here—like the word pulober, their version of pullover. And their words for camping, shopping, living (for living room), trekking, sandwich, and several others are the English words, but said with a Spanish accent. It’s actually kind of funny for us to hear them mixed in! One thing we’re finding challenging is that MOST clothing items have different names here. Like campera for jacket.

We’re heading up to the big city of Córdoba this week to renew our visitors visas. If that all goes smoothly, we’re hoping to stay a 2-3 more months, before heading back to El Salvador to renew our permanent residency there. And so, by late October, we hope to be in Argentina more permanently. I’ll keep you all posted on the journey.

Thanks for all of your encouragement, love, and prayers, friends! ❤️❤️❤️

Until next time, friends…

¡Hasta la próxima, amigos!

¡Chau! 😘

*Names changed to protect their identities.

Hi, everyone!

It’s been almost 4 months in Argentina now! This travel life is amazing, but often I feel stretched, packing up and unpacking, finding our way in new places. I’ve been learning so much patience with all of that, and often I have to dig deep and breathe more deeply…always looking UP!

“Let us throw off everything that hinders... And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith…”

Hebrews 12:1-2

I have a confession to make: I’m over a month behind with my writing, so I need to do some major catch-up with where we are and what’s been happening! For the last few weeks, we’ve been in Córdoba province, enjoying some time in nature and with friends. But first, we spent 2 weeks in Mendoza.

We got on a double-decker bus and left El Bolsón (in northern Patagonia) on a cold morning at 8:30 am, ready—or not!—for a 22-hour ride. The views from the upper level were spectacular, through forests, interspersed with lakes, and majestic mountains rising up behind to greet us.

We’d packed plenty of food and snacks for the journey, and we’d all brought books to read. Our younger girls enjoy drawing and colouring too, so they were happy to do some of that along the way—making paper people, and role-playing with them. They have a mix of Harry Potter characters, “Sound of Music” movie characters, and various others in their “paper people” collection!

Here’s the route we covered on that long bus ride, which included several stops, from El Bolsón up to Mendoza city. The blue dot is where we are now…but I’ll get to that later!

The bus was new and fairly spacious, especially being mostly empty that day. Buses here are much nicer than any I’ve ever been on in Canada. My only complaint was the movies—so much violence and blood, and inappropriate scenes for children. I encouraged the girls to focus on their books and drawings. Around 10 pm the movies stopped, lights went out, and we all slept—uncomfortably, on and off—in our semi-reclining seats. By the time 6:30 am rolled around, and we arrived in Mendoza, we were so relieved to be getting off that bus. It was early, so we found a café in the bus station and enjoyed some coffee, tea, fruit, and medialunas—sweet croissants.

After awhile, we got 2 Ubers to our Airbnb where Patricia, the friendly cleaning lady, greeted us and let us leave our bags until she finished cleaning up from the last guests.

The nice apartment we’d rented is only a few blocks away from the city’s largest park—Parque General San Martín. This park is almost 400 hectares, and has various playgrounds, a huge, man-made lake, walking trails, rose gardens, and various little shops. Because it was Sunday, there was an artisan market, so we enjoyed strolling through it, and chatted with a few of the vendors as we browsed.

We were all happy to check into our place at 1 pm, and rest awhile. There’s one word that sums up our week’s stay near that beautiful park: sickness. We all got 3-4 days of the flu, except for Tom—BUT, he had his own health battles! By the end of the week, he realized that he’s most likely celiac (gluten intolerant). His dad was diagnosed around the same age. Avoiding wheat has been life-changing for him!

Empanadas are one of the local foods we’d been enjoying for a couple months up to this point—a pastry with meat and/or veggies inside—and that’s something Tom misses. But, thankfully there are lots of great gluten-free options here—many Argentines are celiac.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned one of the most famous local treats yet. Alfajores (“al-fa-HOR-es”) are a sweet treat, often with chocolate on the outside, with 2-3 wafers and a layer of “dulce de leche” (a sweet, caramel-like filling made with milk and sugar) in between them. Or they can look like these ones, without a chocolate coating. Either way, they’re a delicious, rich treat locals and tourists enjoy. ¡Riquísimo! 😋

Many are made with rice or corn flour, so Tom can still enjoy them.

On our last day at the apartment, we met up with some friends (2 couples) who’d come to Argentina from El Salvador like us. It was fun to reconnect and compare notes on our various experiences. And to speak English with old friends felt refreshing!

When chatting with our friends, we all seemed to agree about one thing—the stores being closed in Argentina for most of the afternoon for “siesta” still takes getting used to. Even after almost 4 months here, I sometimes go out at 3pm, planning to get a few things—only to find the shop I get to has a CERRADO sign on the door. There are a few exceptions, but most of the stores and cafés are closed from 1-5 pm or so for “siesta” everyday.

And people have an evening snack called “merienda” to keep them going till later. Then they reopen stores until 9 pm or so. I suppose it’s because people here like to stay up late—dinner at 9 or 10 pm, or even later! We haven’t taken this habit on, partly because we don’t want to start relying on having daily naps. So, we eat our “cena” several hours before most locals would, and are in bed by 10. Often this means lying in bed, listening as our neighbours gather for dinner.

There is some incredible architecture in Mendoza, and it’s a beautiful city in many ways. On the way back to our apartment, we stopped at Plaza Italiana, and took in the sculptures around the pool of red water (created with LED lights) including a 3-headed dog, from Dante’s Inferno, which I’m assuming is where JK Rowling got her inspiration for the dog, Fluffy, in Harry Potter. 😉

Our second week in Mendoza, we moved to Chacras de Coria, a pretty, walkable area on the south end of Mendoza. For the record, our Airbnb wasn’t as nice as the photos this time, but I did a bit of cleaning, and we made the best of it for a week.

There was a lot of graffiti along the canal where we’d walk to get to the shops in Chacras de Coria, and this bit of art caught my eye—in fact, I can relate to how our phones can often “chain us” down, distracting us from real life. I recently deleted the Facebook app, as I was noticing it was becoming an addiction! 😕

Since Mendoza is the wine capital of Argentina, and is famous for its Malbec, Tom’s favourite wine, we decided to visit a little organic winery in the neighborhood called Bodegas Pulmary. It was incredible to see the huge vats they store the grapes in while they ferment. And to go down into the cellar where they keep the big oak barrels year-round so they stay cool.

The family who runs the winery bought it after it had been abandoned for 40 years. Now they run a successful business, and their various vinos orgánicos are delicious!

We were all feeling better, and had signed up for online Spanish lessons. I had no idea until I did my first lesson, but my instructor, Tamara, happens to live just 15 minutes away from where we were staying, so she and I arranged to go for coffee—what a lovely treat! I brought my oldest daughter, and we all enjoyed sitting in the outdoor garden by the café on comfy couches. She’s done lots of travelling, including living in New Zealand and Germany, and we exchanged travel notes over cheese cake, speaking Spanish for 90% of the conversion—she’s fluent in English, but I needed the practice!

We’d decided to rent a car for the last 2 days of our stay, which turned out to be a great idea. We did a little hike on Thursday morning up a small but steep mountain near Potrerillos with stunning views of the lake.

There are some amazing hot springs near Mendoza, the Termas Cacheuta and we all had a great time soaking in the hot, warm, and cool pools, which are right next to the mountains. Tom rotated between super hot and icy cold, and I joined him for awhile—great for the muscles! The girls were excited to try out the waterslide, and must’ve gone on it again and again for over an hour!

The next day, we drove up to Puente del Inca, near the Chilean border. This amazing place is a picturesque canyon where the minerals flowing from above have “painted” the rocks with various colours. My oldest wrote in detail about our time there:

Early Friday morning, we left in our rental car for Puente del Inca, a natural rock bridge that the Inca natives from Argentina walked across to get from one side of the river to the other. The day looked nice and sunny with a cool breeze. It was going to be a long drive, about an hour and a half to get there. After Puente Del Inca, we were planning to go to a viewpoint for Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in the Americas! I was excited to go up into the towering Andes to see these new sites.

As we drove between the amazing red and orange mountains, the road went through the brightly coloured rock in tunnels of various lengths. It was pretty dry and arid. We passed a ski hill and some resorts along the way. As we drove higher up, the weather started getting colder.

When we got out of the car, it was freezing cold, about 5° or so, and we hadn’t brought our jackets with us.

We walked out to Puente del Inca. When we saw the natural rock-bridge and the beautifully coloured rock, rising up above the river, we were in awe. I was so grateful that we were there that day!

My sisters and I got some rock animals for souvenirs from one of the many vendors there. Through the harsh, cold winds, we said goodbye to the stunning mix of colours behind us. We got into our car with the intention to go to a viewpoint of Mount Aconcagua nearby. But, as we started driving, a police officer stopped us and said it was snowing, so we could not go any farther—that was disappointing! Then, we turned around and said goodbye to the majestic stone of the Inca.

E, age 12

The building you can see in the above photo was a hotel built into the rocks in 1925. It had a luxury spa, where the rich would come for its acclaimed naturally hot, mineral-rich pools, but it was sadly destroyed by a huge mud slide in 1965, and had to shut down.

Because they’d closed the highway, we decided to spend the rest of the day exploring, so we drove to a cute little town called Upsallata. We went from there to see some ancient hieroglyphics painted by indigenous people on rocks, and then we drove to a unique rock formation called La Ventana (“the window”).

I was going to tell you ALL about our time in Córdoba the last few weeks, but decided to wait and tell you about the last few weeks in my next post, coming soon…

I have to say, this life is never boring, but I’m thankful it’s been slowing down a little in the last couple weeks. I’ll tell you all about our latest adventures—horseback riding, embracing mate culture, etc, in Córdoba province next time!

Thanks for joining us on this crazy adventure, friends! 😅

¡Nos vemos pronto, amigos!

Hi, my dear friends!

It’s been another few weeks of travel, exploring, and dealing with some sickness too. Life sure has its ups and downs!

It’s not always easy to be doing what we’re doing.

A few weeks ago we arrived at our new place in El Bolsón, needing to do laundry, I attempted to use the “semiautomatic” washing machine. First let me clarify, this was something new to us, as we’d only ever had normal washing machines or none at all in our Airbnbs. So, I figured I’d be learning as I went. I soon realized this machine could only actually move the clothes around. I had to do the water filling and the emptying manually.

I filled it up, using the shower head, and let it do what it does for about 15 minutes. Then while emptying the dirty water, with the hose draining into the bathtub, I stepped out for a minute. As fate would have it, the hose flung up as the water pressure was dwindling (less weight to hold down the hose), and water sprayed all over the bathroom floor! Arg.😩 I grabbed the mop, and did my best to clean it up. Then, I proceeded to squeeze water out of every piece of wet clothing into the tub. At this point, let’s just say I was NOT in a good mood, and I took it out on my daughter who came into the bathroom, telling her I needed help, and not in a patient or kind way. I’m no “star parent” or anything like that, friends. I’m on a journey of learning from my mistakes, and often need to go back and admit when I’ve messed up.

Also, I sometimes miss my old washing machine and dryer—a lot! And staying in various places comes with its own set of challenges.

We’ve done so much since I last posted. The last couple of weeks we’ve been exploring Mendoza city and the province of Córdoba a bit. I’ll post on that next time. But first…

We’d heard great things about Argentine refugios. They are mountain cabins usually in remote areas, run by caretakers who keep them maintained and warm, and offer cooking facilities/meals and mattresses for weary hikers. So, we’d been hoping to have the experience of spending a night in one of them.

We went to the tourist info center on a Monday, asking about staying at Refugio Lago Natación (swimming lake) and they told us that the next day would be the very last day of the season to be able to stay there before it closed down, until reopening again in spring here in October. So, we knew it was our destiny to hike up to the lake the next day!

Let me just say, this hike was hard. It entailed about 1,100 meters of elevation gain and was 10 kilometers each way, with some awfully steep sections.

Here is my 12-year-old daughter’s account of our hike:

One early morning, we got up before the sun was even beginning to rise, and began doing some last-minute preparation for our overnight hike up to Lago Natación. We made sure all the bags were packed and that we had enough food and water. Once we were ready, we walked to the bus stop. It was a 40-minute bus ride to the starting point. At 9 o’clock we arrived and were ready to hike. But it was cold—about 4* Celsius, with lots of frost on the ground. It was beautiful and peaceful, walking the steep road downhill, with bushes full of rose hips on either side. After about 30 minutes, the trail started getting flat and instead of bright red rose hips surrounding us, we were walking through a forest. We crossed the Rio Azul on a wobbly bridge, then we crossed a second bridge over another river. After that came lots of steep uphill with rocks and mud, but my favourite part of this new change of scenery was the views. You could see mountains of all sizes and snowy peaks, and farms, covered in frost.

Once we had gotten to the top of the first huge hill, we had a break and ate some sandwiches, chocolate, and trail mix. We saw something white on the ground behind a tree. We went over and touched it. It was hard and crunchy. We thought it was just frost, but Mommy said it was snow. We were so excited!

After that, we saw more and more snow on our hike to the refugio. Once we finally arrived at the refugio, we rested and cozied up by the warm barrel stove. Because there were lots of other hikers there, we met many interesting people from northern Argentina, Columbia, Buenos Aires, and Uruguay.

Outside was covered in lots of snow and ice. I drank some warm tea and headed outside to play in the snow. My sisters and I had so much fun building a snowman, skating on the ice, and having snowball fights. We had not been in this much snow for five years.

Then after some well-deserved dinner, we got into our sleeping bags on some mattresses upstairs. There were about 12 other people sleeping up there with us, sharing the same big room.

We all got up at around 8 o’clock in the morning, ate some porridge, and played in the snow. We realized there was a bit less snow than before. We stayed till around 2 o’clock in the afternoon, and played in the snow all morning. Then we packed up and left Refugio Lago Natación and started our journey back down the mountain.

At the place where we had first seen snow, there was no snow now because all the snow had melted. It was a bit hard going downhill because it was so steep, but it was nothing compared with the uphill. Eventually, we came to the bridge that crosses Rio Azul—the downhill had stopped.

We were grateful as we walked across the bridge, watching the sunset over the mountains, the river rushing under our feet, and the beautiful forest ahead with its many trees and rose hips. After a flat stretch, we started ascending again. We knew it would not be long before we got back. The climb lasted for about half an hour. We got back to the trailhead at around 6:30pm, and took a taxi back with a friendly guy to our Airbnb in El Bolsón. It was an unforgettable experience, and the best part for me was the snow.

—E, age 12

That excurcíon is one of many hikes with refugios near El Bolsón in a huge network of trails—the largest network of hiking trails with refugios in South America. It was great to experience a refugio first-hand, and the hosts were so helpful and friendly. One hiker who was there told me that she was very impressed that our girls could do this long hike. She said she couldn’t have imagined her son who is 9 years old doing this hike. But she told me that seeing our kids up there inspired her to bring him next time!

We stayed about 12 more days in El Bolsón after that snowy hike. We all love that scenic little town and its beautiful people.

Friends, I want to share a few random things—and some deeper thoughts—from our 2 months of travel and staying in Patagonia:

• Friendliness is a gift. Driving on the remote roads in Argentina we loved how lots of the truck drivers as they were about to pass us would flash their high beams as if to say “¡hola!” and they’d wave at oncoming vehicles. They were all so friendly!

• Organizing all the logistics is super hard work and deserves some recognition. My husband LOVES adventure. I knew it before, but many days I was in awe of how he is such a pro at making our dreams become reality. I appreciate this about him even more now that we’ve done this trip.

• Seize the day. There are always 100’s of excuses to put off “grabbing life by the horns,” but none of us can be sure we’ll have next year, or even next week.

  

• Why is there pain and suffering, and how can we help relieve some of it? There is a LOT of graffiti in Argentine cities and towns—messy writing and “art” on statues, walls, and even what would otherwise be such gorgeous colonial buildings and monuments, depicting the rich history of Argentina. It’s sad that so many of these beautiful pieces of art have been defaced, and probably reflects something about the despondency of the youth of this nation in the last few decades. Maybe we can bring some hope to some of them in the future.

• Hard things glue us all together. In the last few months, we often did challenging things, like the “insane” mud hike I told you about in my “Fin del Mundo” post. Part of it is that we want to teach our kids to have mental toughness and perseverance (or “Sisu” as the Finnish people say—my hubby is Finnish). Call me crazy, but I’m so grateful now, that we have those incredible memories. Trekking through mud is just one of them. You could call them “team-building exercises” because yes, they really did help “glue us together” as a family in some ways.

• Never give up learning and trying! When you go to a foreign place where you HAVE to use your basic Spanish—and also learn a new dialect—you’re almost forced to get better. I’m not saying that now our Spanish is amazing—not by any stretch—but we’ve all come a long way in a few months. Having so many hours to listen to podcasts and do lessons in the car helped us all as well. And now we’re doing online lessons with various tutors through Preply and it’s been a great experience so far.**

• If there’s not a COST to doing new things, we don’t value them nearly as much. For us, we had to give up lots of things in order to do this trip: our home, the expat community we’d been part of, our pets, and our “familiar” life in El Salvador.

• Travel with kids seems rare these days. Our girls are getting so much out of their experiences in the last few months.

  

  In Patagonia, when we went to touristy places, like on the penguin tour, we were almost always the only ones with kids. So, A) Are people with kids just NOT travelling much? Or B) Are people choosing not to have kids nowadays if they want to travel? I think it’s a bit of A and also B. And honestly, both of those answers makes me feel a little sad. 😔

• Being present and making time for people doesn’t go unnoticed. I said this before, but it’s probably worth repeating: Argentines are very PRESENT in how they approach life. And, they take time for people. On the street, many will look you in the eye, smile, and greet you. They will also greet you with a hug and a kiss on the cheek when introducing themselves, and in every subsequent visit!

• Sometimes doing things even when we don’t “feel like it” proves worth it. Our girls kept saying they HAD to see snow up close and they so desperately wanted to play in some snow too. The morning we’d planned to go on the hike, we ALMOST cancelled the trip, because Tom and I had hardly slept, and then one of our girls said she was too tired and didn’t want to go. BUT, we decided to go anyways—and it turned out to be an amazingly fun time—and an answer to their prayers for snow. It was such an incredible surprise to see how much snow there was when we got near the top—so thankful!!!

• Doing this life of “discomfort” has stretched me in ways that have helped me grow so much. I’ve overcome so much anxiety and negative thought patterns in the last 3-4 years—and even while doing this trip. I want to write more about that in a future post, but for now, I just want you to know that I’m trusting God with the future while being more present these days. And I’m so grateful for how far I’ve come. 🙏🏼 If I can encourage any of you at all, I think it’s worth writing about.

Next time I’ll tell you about our 22-hour bus ride to Mendoza, and some of the adventures we’ve done up here. This past weekend, we took a bus to Córdoba province and it’s been amazing so far.

Until next time, friends 💖

Hasta la próxima, amigos 🤗

**P.S. Amigos, I can send you a link for a discount with Preply if you’re interested. Just send me a quick email or mention it in the comments. If you’re wanting to learn a language, it’s so worth it! 😊

Greetings from El Bolsón where we’ve been for 4 weeks now, and have all been enjoying this jewel of a city. When we heard that it was a hub where “Covid-refugees” came 5-6 years ago, we thought we might like it here. 😉

Before I tell you too much about this neck of the woods, I need to fill you in on the last leg of our trip, back to northern Patagonia, along the Atlantic.

It’s been several weeks since we ended our EPIC adventure, and I wish I could say, “Yeah, we drove over 7,000 km in a month—no big deal!”

No regrets…please don’t get me wrong. But, that last stretch alone was such a marathon of driving days! In fact, I hope we don’t ever have to drive 2,800 kilometers in 8 days ever again!

**Actually, we are planning a 23-hour bus trip (straight through) up to Mendoza soon, so I’m actually wondering if that’s worse..?! 😅

I have to say, Argentines are very PRESENT people. It seems to be part of their “tranqui” (chill) culture, like how they drink their mate🧉and just sit calmly—relaxing, chatting, and just being present. And, they take time for people. I love how on the street, they look you in the eye, smile, and greet you. They will also greet you with a hug—and a kiss on the cheek—when introducing themselves the first time you meet them!

If you’ve been following our journey, my last post took us from the southernmost city of Ushuaia—at the end of the world—to the coastal city of Rio Gallegos. We left that extremely windy city (99 km / hour winds while we were there) after a day, and as our host was bidding us “Adios,” at 8 am, he mentioned that we could see penguins if we stopped by Parque Nacional Monte León (“lion mountain”).

That sounded like a great plan!

My ten-year-old wanted to share her thoughts about our time there with all of you.

“March 26, 2026:

Today we went to Parque Nacional Monte León and saw penguins and sea lions! It was an outstanding experience. We first went to the park office and registered, but we didn’t even have to pay. Then we drove 5 km down the highway, turned left, drove down a dirt road for about half an hour, and then parked. We walked for 2 1/2 km and then we came to a boardwalk and saw some penguins, but they lay still and dead on the sand. It made me sad.

Then we saw another penguin. It stood perfectly still, but then it nodded its head and flapped its little helpless wings. Soon we began to see more penguins. Some hid under bushes and behind shrubs to shelter and keep warm.

Down on the beach hundreds of penguins dove into the shimmering ocean and some jumped out of the water. Lots of penguins climbed up the hill with fresh food for their families. All of these penguins fascinated me. **Zoom in to see them!

On the way back, we saw some cuddling under the boardwalk—they were so cute. And they were so close, we could have touched them.

When we got back to the parking lot, we got in the car and drove a few minutes down the road, and then parked, got out, and walked on the boardwalk. While we walked, I looked down and saw that the water had made little “canyons” in the rocks where it had run through a long time ago.

We got to a lookout, and down below us were dozens of sea lions lying on the sand sleeping. Some were jumping in and out of the ocean.

The sign said that only females and young males stopped here to rest because this beach is too steep for baby sea lions to live, and because the females and young males need to escape from the aggressive adult males. We also learned that a long time ago ships would come here and hunt the sea lions for food—and they almost went extinct—and now, there are not nearly as many here as there were about 100 years ago.

Another interesting thing is that the park is called Monte Leon because the rock that stretches out into the sea is in the shape of a lion and the sea lions rest on the “lion’s paw.”

We went back to the car and stopped at a little café, and then we drove back onto the highway. I would love to come back to Monte León!”

T, age 10

What an incredible detour! When 2 pm rolled around, after our 3 hours of fun, we still had 5 hours of driving to do before our next stop in Puerto Deseado. Suddenly it had become a long day. But SO worth it to see penguins again. Getting to our apartment in the seaside town of Puerto Deseado at 7:30pm, we scurried to grab a few groceries and make some food, and then called it a night.

The next day we did some walking around the town which is built on huge, beautiful coastal rocks, and we discovered some caves along the shoreline to explore.

Our drive to Puerto Madryn the next day was another full day, including a refreshing stop at a scenic beach where we walked around barefoot, and the girls had fun playing in the sand.

We all enjoyed staying in our apartment on the eighth floor in downtown Puerto Madryn (a city of about 100,000 people) for 2 nights. It was easy to walk to the long, sandy beach and around the city. One highlight was eating at an amazing Lebanese restaurant where we introduced the girls to shawarmas…mmmm! We were all so tired of driving, we decided to have a chill day in the lovely coastal city. We’d definitely return.

We drove a little over an hour and spent one day in the nearby city of Trelew (originally settled by Welsh people), and took the girls to the local palaeontology museum where the world’s largest dinosaur (found nearby) is on display. The museum did not disappoint—such an incredible science lesson for all of us!

Our last day of driving, another 8 hours, we literally drove across the country—Trelew to El Bolsón. The drive was mostly in the desert, but we did see some beautiful mountains and rugged canyons along the way. We’d contacted our hosts in El Bolsón from our last stay there in early March, and they welcomed us back to their little “Granja de Los Pinos” (pine tree farm) near town. It’s such a peaceful, picturesque place, with the mountains jutting up behind the farm. The raspberries were still in full-swing, and we also feasted on their home-grown tomatoes, walnuts, apples, and freshly laid eggs. Yum!

We were planning to stay just a few days at the farm, but then we realized we were all just so tired of moving around, after 7,500 kilometers of driving in Patagonia. So, we ended up staying 2 weeks, regrouping, taking some deep breaths being in nature…and NOT driving much at all.

On the last day before we had to return our rental SUV, we drove up a rough road and did a hike up the mountain that juts up behind the farm. The mountain is called Piltriquitrón—meaning “hanging from the clouds” in the local native language. There is a neat place part way up, where there are some trees that were damaged in a forest fire. The locals decided to beautify the burnt trees by inviting various artists to carve designs into what’s left of them. We took a bit of time to explore it—so many talented artists had made it a magical place.

From there, it was a steep trek up, but the views were spectacular from the “mirador” (viewpoint). It was amazing to be up close to the majestic mountains we looked up to every day.

The next day Tom took one of our girls and they drove over 5 hours to return the SUV back to San Martín de Los Andes. Our hosts had helped us find a much cheaper but smaller rental car. The nice part for me was that I could actually drive this car. Tom had been the sole driver on our epic journey—insurance was cheaper that way. And so, for 5 weeks, I’d been dubbed “navigator and supplier of the food!” 😄

We are thoroughly enjoying this little city, El Bolsón. Many people here grow their own food, there’s a huge famers market that runs 3 times a week, with all sorts of products and foods like organic produce, fresh honey, delicious jam, handmade clothing, leather belts and purses, and hand-carved items.

The little health food stores around here offer inexpensive organic and whole food options—I was excited to find chickpea flour super cheap, and lots of other healthy options and even supplements I’d missed in El Salvador.

There are so many lakes, rivers, and mountains to explore here. It was sunny and warm—if you can call 20 Celsius warm—one afternoon, so we drove out to a beautiful lake about 30 minutes south of town. After soaking in the sun on the rocky shore-side for awhile, we all took a dip into the icy cold water—the sort of temperature that makes your skin STING!

Eeeek—so…refreshing!

The people of El Bolsón have been so friendly and welcoming. We also found an amazing church here, with a congregation who welcomed us in, greeting us with their Argentine hugs….AND their traditional kisses on the right cheek—that took a bit of getting used to!

We decided to return the second rental car after a couple weeks because we were barely using it. But, we still wanted to spend some more time in El Bolsón. And so, we moved into the city, after finding a cozy 2-bedroom house near the center, so we can walk everywhere. A bonus with this place is that it came with a sweet and snuggly outdoor cat, so we’re all enjoying his company. And just down the street, on our way to the river, there’s a yard with a dog, a sheep, a bunny, and some chickens…right in town. We always stop by and say hola 😊

The views here are spectacular—there’s even been some pretty snow on these mountains in the last couple weeks.

We loved our time exploring southern Patagonia—so many places were spectacular and unique in their own ways. But they were all so remote, and we just don’t want to be that far removed from the rest of the world. This city, El Bolsón, is the first place we could maybe see ourselves settling.

In my next post, I’ll talk about some of the things we’ve been pondering and realizing from doing this trip, and tell you about an unforgettable—and snowy—hike we did recently.

I had to cut this post down…seems to be a pattern lately! 😅

Thanks for joining us, amigos!

Hugs (and Argentine right cheek kisses) to all our family and friends! 🤗😘

As they say here, “¡Chau, amigos!” 🩵

We did it! Our trip of a lifetime through Patagonia is complete…and we’re all tired of bouncing around, after staying in 15 different places in March! …yes, you read that right, we didn’t stay anywhere more than 2 or 3 nights—and I’m not quite sure whether to laugh or cry about that! 😅

A big reason this post has taken me so long to get out is that I feel like I’ve been in recovery mode, and have been procrastinating—hoping it would just write itself—while we were spending lots of time in nature. Being that it’s fall here, and we haven’t experienced fall in almost 5 years, it has been such a treat…

One thing we’ve learned from driving in Patagonia is that it has a lot of arid, flat land. The photos most of us see of Patagonia are full of mountains, glaciers, lakes, and rivers that are mostly in and around the Andes Mountains. But the majority of Argentine Patagonia is extremely dry, as the clouds that come from the Pacific Ocean tend to rain over Chile often getting stuck on the Andes Mountains. We had some stretches of driving through the “desert” for 4 hours without a place to get gas or a coffee! The guanacos were abundant and cute, and we’d see some rheas (ñandus)—large ostrich-like birds—too, but not much else.

The typical Patagonian tourist flies into Ushuaia or El Calafate and often takes a bus to a few of the highlight spots from there. Not too many people were driving the 7,500 kilometers of roads that we took. Often we were the only vehicle around. But, we did come across a few other “hard core” tourists on the rugged roads like ourselves.

Actually, there were much more extreme ones out there too. We saw several people biking—on normal pedal bikes—through the arid desert, with the harsh winds nearly blowing them over. And, what surprised us the most was when we saw a few random people along the highway TREKKING—yes, it happened 2 or 3 times, hundreds of kilometers from anywhere. We’d come across a person walking, pushing a little cart along the edge of Ruta 40. You’d have to be incredibly committed to pull that off. I wondered where on earth they were going to sleep that night.

After 5 days in Chile, which I wrote about last time, we drove from Punta Arenas, all the way down to Ushuaia, Argentina—635 km. We knew that it was going to be a BIG detour to get down there and back up again, especially with border crossings & a ferry, but we asked ourselves “When will we ever have this opportunity again?”

The journey included driving a few hours, then a long wait for a 45-minute ferry ride to get to the island of Tierra del Fuego (“Land of Fire”) on the Chilean side. After that, we drove about an hour to the border, returning back into Argentina, and then did some more unstimulating desert driving. That night we stopped in Rio Grande, a city of about 100,000 people, 2 hours north of Ushuaia, and spent the night. We were all exhausted.

I took this photo at the border crossing—Argentine road signs often look like this—sometimes completely impossible to read—after people have decorated (or desecrated.?) them with various stickers—many people bring custom-made stickers with their own names and photos on them. Just for the record, we didn’t see signs like this in Chile.

Getting to Ushuaia—the southernmost city on earth—the next day around noon, we felt like we’d completed a marathon! It was a HUGE milestone to finally get to the end of the world / “el fin del mundo” after almost a year of planning this trip, and now weeks of travelling.

Since it was a bit rainy, we decided to go to the prison museum. It was used from 1902 until 1947 to house the worst criminals in the country, being that Ushuaia is about the most remote part of Argentina.

**I somehow managed to get thrown behind bars that day too…not sure what I did or said—it’s always hard with the language barrier, and sometimes you do / say something offensive without meaning to! 😝

This museum was LOADED with interesting exhibits. In nearly every prison cell we encountered something new—and it felt like information overload after awhile! One wing was dedicated to the prison’s history and there were statues of some of the infamous prisoners with stories about them on the walls of the cells. Some were horrifying, but captivating.

There was a huge area dedicated to various nation’s ships, how and when they’d arrived in the area, with miniature models of each one. There were exhibits about nearly everything you can imagine: land and aviation explorers, electricity, old radios, Antarctic exploration, penguins, and a large local art exhibition. I told the girls we could just make the museum their new school, learning about something new everyday!

We stayed in the heart of Ushuaia and enjoyed amazing views of the mountains and the harbour from our apartment. It was great to be able to walk along the harbour, or to the nearby shops, bookstores, and bakeries.

The next day was sunny and beautiful, so we decided to do a scenic hike along the coast of the Beagle Channel in Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego. The hike alternated between trails through the forest and walking along the shore where the girls practiced skipping rocks. The views were spectacular, and we could see many of the islands across the channel, including some belonging to Chile.

After taking our time getting down to Ushuaia from northern Patagonia, Tom and I were both dreading the 3,200 kilometers we’d need to drive in order to get back up north to return the car—2,800 km of which we’d need to do in 8 days. So, we sat down and made a plan. We’d do a big driving day, take a “day off” somewhere, and then tackle another big drive.

The next day in Ushuaia, we didn’t have a plan, but we wanted to do more exploring, despite some rain in the forecast. We looked up local hikes and decided on the Laguna Esmeralda one, just east of the city.

When we started out, there were some muddy sections, which we assumed would just be for a short stretch. We were surprised to see dozens of people out hiking, despite the drizzling rain that morning. Our girls were such troopers, and kept going, even after getting a few “soakers”—one of them even sank about a foot into the oozing mud, but pulled her boot out and kept on trekking. Sometimes there were alternate routes through the bush to avoid the big mud bogs. Some slippery boardwalks provided temporary relief from the sloppy muck a few times too.

I was so thankful for my waterproof hiking boots that day. It was a mud hike like no other—goopy, sloppy, dirty, cold, and wet. Still we managed to have fun. And besides, we all need to challenge ourselves to do hard things, right?!

All 3 girls did it with very little complaining. We ate our lunch at the lake, taking a bit of shelter in some trees from the rain. I can only imagine the views being a little more scenic on a sunny afternoon.

That evening, we all had some much-needed showers, and I scrubbed mud out of our 5 pairs of pants and hung them all to dry. Then, we packed up and prepped for our 8 hour drive north the next day. Getting to Rio Gallegos (back on the mainland of Patagonia) is a long stretch with 2 border crossings, going into and out of Chile and across the straight by ferry again. But it all went smoothly, and we got to our destination without any issues. We’d decided to drive up the east coast to see new sights, so all of our destinations would be along the Atlantic coast.

Here’s a map of our somewhat daunting road trip. “A” is our first stop, Rio Gallegos. From Ushuaia, we had to do 32 hours of driving in just 8 days to get to El Bolsón. 😬

**And then Tom had to drive 5 more hours to get the car back up to San Martín after that!

We stayed on the edge of the city of Rio Gallegos, which was a bit rustic. Our place was comfortable and modern, but the area where we stayed had a lot of garbage, mostly plastic bags, which would get caught on prickly bushes or fences, blown about in the harsh Patagonian winds. The day we spent in Rio Gallegos, the winds were up to 99 kilometers per hour—pretty much insane—you could easily get blown over! Needless to say, we didn’t spend much time outside, and we were thankful to not be out driving, trying to keep our car on the road. We visited a museum, and enjoyed sitting by the heater in a little bakery eating cake and sipping tea to escape the icy cold wind.

Not sure I’ve mentioned this—Argentina has amazing tortas (cakes) and other baked goods like their sweet croissants called “medialunas” (half moons), sometimes filled with chocolate or a delicious custard-cream. 😋

I’m going to pause here for now, friends. Like I said, it was a lengthy 8 days of travelling those thousands of kilometers, but we had some highlights along the way like getting to see penguins again, which I’ll tell you about next time. 😊

Because this post ended up being way too long, I’m going to post part 2 soon about the rest of our drive back up to northern Patagonia. For now, we’re staying put for a bit in the “tranqui” (peaceful) little city of El Bolsón.

Until next time, friends!❣️

¡Hasta la próxima, amigos! 😘

PS: I have to make a bit of a correction, in case any of you are planning a trip to Argentina. When we were staying in Buenos Aires, I said that in Argentina we can flush toilet paper 🚽 because we could—at our first 2 Airbnbs. But, truth be told—in 90% of our stays, we can’t. But, that’s OK, since we’ve been so used to that for the last 4 years of living in Mexico and El Salvador 😉😅

Hi, everyone!

Thanks for following us on our thousands of kilometers through Patagonia!

When we started our road trip in northern Patagonia, we’d planned to drive all the way down to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in Argentina—actually the southernmost city on earth. Ushuaia is on the south end of the island of Tierra del Fuego—“land of fire”—and requires passing through Chile to get down there. Knowing this, we had purchased a special permit to get the rental car into Chile which cost about $75.

Argentina has been amazing in so many aspects—People are friendly and helpful. Cattle and sheep range free all over the countryside, making steak and lamb abundant, cheap, and oh so delicious!

Airbnb rentals are cheaper too. But, did I mention before that Argentina is one of the most expensive countries for renting a car? We knew this before coming, but we had decided that renting an SUV would give us the freedom we needed to do this trip at our own pace as a family of 5.

So, yes, we did it…and it has been worth it!

We decided to spend a few days in Chile just to see what it was like, and because we’d heard great things about Torres del Paine National Park. We were thankful that the border crossing went smoothly.

We arrived in Puerto Natales, and walking around, it felt like there were more tourists than locals. It’s a cute seaside town with lots of touristy shops, restaurants, and hostels on the main streets. Our Airbnb was downtown for a few nights, and we enjoyed being able to walk just 10 minutes to the harbour, down the street a few minutes to local bakeries and shops, or to take the girls to a playground on the waterfront.

We wanted to go to the Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, which from Puerto Natales is over 2 hours away. We weren’t too excited about the long drive, but we decided that we wanted to see the park, which is world-renowned for it’s multi-day hikes. We were still recovering from our epic hike up Mount Fitz Roy a few days before, so we chose a much shorter hike. When we finally got to the trailhead and started our 6.5 km (round trip) hike to Los Cuernos—“the horns”—we were in awe of the picturesque views in all directions, and so thankful we’d come. The lake in front of “the horns” is an incredible turquoise colour.

What a gorgeous place to spend a few hours! Definitely worth the added 4.5 hours of driving.

Some differences we noticed in Chile from our very limited experience in two cities near the border:

• They don’t have bidets.

• There were drain racks next to their kitchen sinks—Argentines often don’t have them.

• The girls and I were so excited to find thrift stores, which we hadn’t seen at all in our month of being in Argentina.

• As soon as we arrived, we needed to find electrical adapters—our Argentine ones didn’t work!

• Chileans use a different currency, including coins, whereas Argentines normally only use paper money.

• Chile seems to have more reckless drivers than Argentina, often speeding through quiet residential areas.

• Kids 12 and under were free, or half price, for national parks and activities like the penguin tour in Chile—versus in Argentina where kids over 5 often have to pay full price.

• Argentina seems to have more police checkpoints along the main highways.

• At the border crossing into Chile, the Chilean border guards are quite particular about what you bring in, and there’s an inspection to make sure you don’t have produce, meat, or dairy.

Like I said, those are just a few minor observations we made, based on our brief 5 days in Chile.

Tom worked behind-the-scenes finding great places for us to explore and registering us online for various national parks and activities. National parks in Argentina and Chile require each person to register online beforehand. This means entering personal information like passport numbers, birthdates, etc. for all 5 of us. Most hikes we’d done in parks were free, but national parks typically cost around $15-$20 per person.

Next stop: Punta Arenas— “sandy point”—located right on the Strait of Magellan…

We’d booked a nice-looking Airbnb which we discovered was in the more rustic part of town. It worked out fine, but just meant a bit more driving to get to the city center, museums, and a walk around in the cemetery. Here is a beautiful example of one family’s memorial:

Patagonia is known for some extreme winds. When we arrived at the Airbnb, it was cold—8 Celsius, but with the harsh wind, it felt like -3 C, which is the coldest temperature we’d experienced since leaving Canada 4.5 years ago.

The host, not knowing our exact arrival time, hadn’t turned on the heat, so it felt icy cold in the house. While my girls unpacked their Lego and started to play next to their heater, I spent an hour reading, messaging friends, and defrosting next to the big gas heater. We were all glad to have our warm jackets, gloves, and hats for our walks and outings in the city.

We visited the ship museum where we got to explore replicas of various famous ships. Our girls loved climbing around inside of them! The first was Ferdinand Magellan’s ship, the Victoria, which was the first ship to circumnavigate the earth. He’d discovered the Strait of Magellan in 1520.

There were several more ships, including the famous Beagle. It was British Captain Robert Fitz Roy’s ship on which Charles Darwin had joined him for his voyage to South America in 1831.

While in Punta Arenas, we decided to go on a penguin tour, since it was much closer and more affordable there than some of the other options on our route. My seven-year-old daughter wrote this story about our day trip to Isla Magdalena, the island where the cute little Magellanic penguins are the only inhabitants.

We are going to see penguins! Today we woke up really early, and our (morning) trip got canceled because it was too windy, but we got to go in the afternoon. We went to the tour place, and hopped onto the bus, and after awhile we were dropped off at the boat.

I am so excited! The boat looks nice. We climb in and take a seat. Our friendly guide says that we can go on the top deck. We climb up and see Isla Magdalena. He says the waves are getting bigger, so we climb back in. We get closer and closer until we see the penguins. There are so many penguins here!

We walk around and see penguins everywhere! We go into a building that has pictures of different kinds of penguins and different birds. We see more penguins, and my sister and I were communicating with them by moving our heads from side to side and doing some slow eye blinking. They were copying what we did, so it was fun.

We go back to the boat. We take the boat to Isla Marta nearby to see the sea lions. We go up to the top deck of the boat to see them and the one huge elephant seal. We go back to the dock and take the bus back to Punta Arenas. We had such a great day today. The penguins were so cute!

—A, age 7.

We’re thankful to have had the opportunity to get a small glimpse of Chile, and we hope to see a lot more of it in the future. The penguin tour and watching the sea lions was a big highlight of the trip for all of us. We’re so thankful for all that this time on the road in Patagonia has offered us.

That’s it for now, amigos! ☺️

What a journey this has been!!

Thanks for following us on our crazy adventure, friends! 😅

**In my next post, I’ll tell you about our time in “el fin del mundo” —the end of the world!

Hello, my dear friends❣️

I feel like I just posted, but there’s so much to say..and so many photos to share with you! First, I need to make a little disclaimer—I’m just posting these blogs of what we did and what we saw for now, and later I’ll post more of what our lessons and take-aways were for this “trip of a lifetime.”

We’re still processing everything!

The other day, I was feeling like I just don’t have the energy or even the time to write about our adventures down here every week or 2. And then I had this idea—our girls have been telling me how they’d like to write a blog, and they’ve been writing about our various experiences, so what better time to get them to share their writings than now?

On March 8th, after driving across the desert of Patagonia for 3 days, we arrived in El Chalten at the foot of the Andes in southwest Argentina. We spent the next day doing mini-hikes in the area, in preparation for our epic hike the next day.

El Chalten is a new town, established in the 1980’s, and only has a population of 3,000 or so. It was built to help secure the area for Argentina, when Chile wanted to claim it, and the economy revolves around the tourism that brings hundreds of thousands of tourists every year to the world-famous Mount Fitz Roy, Laguna Torre, the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, and various other scenic hikes in the area. The beautifully-situated little town consists of many overpriced hotels, hostels, nice bakeries, grocery stores, and restaurants everywhere you look.

Here is my 10-year-old daughter’s account of hiking Mount Fitz Roy:

“We hiked Mount Fitz Roy on Tuesday! It was incredible! First, we hiked 8 km and saw some stunning views of Fitz Roy and lots of glaciers. One was a gorgeous turquoise with a waterfall streaming from underneath it, and some were massive white glaciers that spotted the mountain.

We also saw large rivers and we trekked through green forest and over rocky trails and in between big rocks and across skinny bridges until finally, after three and a half hours, we got to the campground. We set up our tent and packed up for the hardest, most epic part of the hike.

First, we crossed a small bridge and turned left. After about half a kilometer of walking, we realized that we were on the wrong trail and turned back. We then got on the right trail with all the other hikers, and crossed a river and began to ascend.

After a while, it got steeper and steeper—400 meters of elevation gain in the last kilometer—hiking on lots of loose rocks, with dozens of other hikers, until finally we were at the top!

It was so beautiful the way the sun just barely shone through the clouds onto the lake, surrounded by gigantic stone pillars, mostly blocked by the clouds, with the snow and ice that stays there year-round.

It was very cold and windy, so we put on our jackets and gloves. Then, we took some photos, ate a snack, and started on our windy, steep descent back down to the campground.

After about an hour of climbing downhill, we reached the campground and cooked a much-needed dinner.

**This photo from the campground shows the famous pillars that were blocked by clouds when we were at the top.

We then set up our beds and went to sleep in the very snuggly tent, five of us in a 4-man tent with barely enough room for our family and our bags. The wind was strong, and it blew dust into our eyes, so it was hard to sleep.

**Drawing by my daughter

The next morning we had tea and oatmeal for breakfast and then we packed up and left. We got to see a hidden waterfall, and we went on a different trail to see a beautiful lake, Laguna Capri.

My shoulders hurt a lot from my backpack. After a much-needed break, we did the last kilometer and once we got to the bottom, I said, “We hiked Mount Fitz Roy!” And we had.

We had only seen two other kids on the whole hike, although they did not have heavy backpacks like us. We had hiked 21 kilometers. As a reward, Daddy took us all out for delicious burgers before our drive to El Calafate.

**As we left El Chalten, the views of Fitz Roy were breath-taking…

We drove to El Calafate and had another unforgettable day. Here’s what my 12-year-old wrote about our next experience:

On March 13, we saw the stunning Perito Moreno glacier. At first, we could not see the glacier, but we drove closer and closer every minute until we entered the Parque National Los Glaciares.

We took a small bus to the platforms. I ran down to take a closer look, and I saw the majestic beauty of the glacier on the water and the towering mountains above. Then we saw a piece on the corner fall from the glacier and crash into the water like icicles crashing to the ground when spring is coming. The glacier was so long and very wide, but so much longer with its many jagged peaks. Every now and then you could hear cracking from the glacier, which sounded like thunder. It is more rare to see a piece of the glacier fall into the turquoise blue lake waters below.

The glacier is over 250 km² in size. It comes down from many of the high Andes Mountain peaks. The glacier is 70 meters above sea level on some parts and 40 meters in others. It can get up to 700 metres deep underwater in some places. When we saw a piece of the glacier fall into the lake, it looked like 40 or 50 m tall. It crashed down into the freezing water with a huge splash and fell deep down into the depths of the lake—wow! We really enjoyed our time in Parque National Los Glaciares!

This adventure keeps going, friends! It involves lots of driving, and lots of packing and unpacking. But, it’s unbelievable how much we’re getting to see and experience.

Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Nos vemos pronto, amigos 😊

P.S. Next time I’ll talk about Chilean Patagonia and the end of the world…until then…🩷

Thanks for following us on our crazy family adventure!

First, I just want to say that it feels a bit strange to be posting about these amazing hikes and Patagonia adventures when some of our friends and family are going through some incredibly hard things. Our good friend Andy passed from this life to eternity on March 9th in El Salvador. Rest in peace, Andy.✨ You were such an inspiration to everyone who knew you, and we’re thankful for the 3 years we could call you our friend. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and loved ones right now. 💖🙏🏼

What a whirlwind few weeks it’s been since we arrived in Patagonia. I’ll have to post more often while we’re travelling around this incredible corner of the world, just to keep you updated with all the places we’re exploring.

We’ve had a few people ask us why we’d go to Patagonia when it’s so similar to Canada. Of course we love Canada’s nature—majestic mountains, pristine lakes, incredible wildlife—but the culture has gone so sideways (“woke”) in the last decade or so, that we just don’t want to raise our kids there. Yes, Argentina has a bit of that too, but it hasn’t overtaken the culture like it has in our “home and native land.” I had a friend message me last week to tell me that her son has decided to leave Canada with his young family and live in South America for similar reasons to ours.

We’ve been hopping from one Airbnb to the next over the last few weeks since I last posted. But much more than that, we’ve gotten to see so much of Patagonia already.

We flew to San Martín de Los Andes on February 22, and the landscape was such a contrast to Buenos Aires. The temperature that afternoon was a balmy 28 Celsius. We wondered why we’d psyched up for the cold. But it seemed like that was the last day of summer, as the weather quickly cooled down in the following days.

After finding two taxis, we drove for 25 minutes to the cabaña we’d booked, near Lago Lacar. We were tired, and needed to get some groceries, so we decided to eat out. We walked a few blocks and came to a nice looking pizza place, ate a few small Italian-style pizzas from their wood fired oven, and paid a LOT for our dinner! We quickly realized we were in a much more touristy place than we’d been accustomed to in Buenos Aires!

The city of San Martín de Los Andes (the top point on the map below) is picturesque, set in the mountains, and reminded me of Jasper—the town in Jasper National park, Canada—with an alpine-themed downtown, and lots of little touristy shops and restaurants. We just happened to arrive on the Noche de las Artes, so we got to see lots of traditional dancing and artisans with their handicrafts lining the streets.

In case you think it’s all smooth sailing, let me be honest—we do face some challenges along the way. I won’t bore you with all the details of our plumbing woes at that cabaña, but we had a huge flood (leaky pipe) like a torrential downpour from the upstairs bathroom to the lower one. Our Airbnb host never did reply about it either, so we were left to fend for ourselves.

The next day, we did a little hike above Lago Lacar. It was the perfect clear day for it, and not too hot. Our youngest (almost 8) needed that practice hike the most, and there was some major whining about how much her legs hurt on the way up. But once we hit the top and started our descent, she was as happy and giggly as ever.

On our last day there we rented an SUV and drove to San Carlos de Bariloche along the “Ruta de Los Siete Lagos” (route of the 7 lakes) which was stunning. We stopped for a picnic lunch and had a little polar swim in a lake called “Lago del Espejo Grande” (big mirror lake), and warmed up again quickly in the afternoon sun.

**We’re currently in El Calafate, near the epic Perito Moreno glacier (which I’ll talk about next time). Here’s a map for you to reference our 3,000km journey from San Martín to Ushuaia:

• Starting Point: San Martín de Los Andes

• A: San Carlos de Bariloche

• B: El Bolsón

• C: Esquel

• D: Perito Moreno

• E: El Chalten

• F: El Calafate (current location)

• G: Puerto Natales, Chile

• H: Punta Arenas, Chile

• End Point: Ushuaia, Argentina

In Bariloche (A), we walked down to the beautiful lakefront and took in the stunning views of the huge lake with mountains all around, and strolled along the pier.

We mostly avoided the downtown, but the bit of time we spent there gave us a weird vibe. It felt heavy or depressing spiritually. Lots of people who we smiled at or greeted weren’t able to smile back—which seemed strange and sad. The place we stayed at was cute, with lake views from the living room window, and blackberries, apples, and plums growing in the yard.

The next morning we drove about 30 minutes west of Bariloche, and did a hike up Cerro Llao Llao—a native Mapuche name—with breathtaking views. The hike was a highlight of our trip so far. It was so worth the effort. What a view!

On the way down, we took a little detour and walked in the shallow icy cold lake water out to a huge rock where we laid in the sun for a bit. Our oldest swam for a while—she definitely takes after her dad when it comes to being brave in ice cold water, not me!

From Bariloche, we drove to El Bolsón (B), a beautiful smaller city where we felt at “home.” We enjoyed our stay at a tranquil little farm, “Granja los Pinos,” (pine farm) on the edge of El Bolsón. We decided to stay 2 nights since Tom had to do month-end for work. It was a great decision. When we arrived at “la granja” there was a loaf of freshly made bread, a jar of their rose hip jam, and some freshly picked raspberries for us. The ranch had wild blackberry bushes scattered around a huge field, an orchard of apple trees with the most delicious fruit, sheep, chickens, and incredible mountain views. There were 3 sheepdogs running around, begging to have sticks thrown for them and a friendly cat, who couldn’t get enough of us petting or holding her.

We drove out and did a hike the next day by Lago Puelo. It was a short but steep hike with lake views, and it started raining as we neared the top, so we all pulled out our rain jackets and hurried back down to the lake. Our youngest had planned to swim, and was determined to get in the water, even now that it was raining. Our eldest joined her, and they quickly realized it was way too windy and cold out. By this point it was a torrential downpour! We all hurried back to the car, which was about a kilometre away—all completely drenched. It was so nice to get back to the farm and have somewhere to hang our wet clothes.

Tom and I talked to Herman and his wife and learned that his grandparents from Austria had settled on this farm almost 100 years ago. They still have some of the original buildings.

From El Bolsón, on their recommendation, we took the “scenic route” through Parque Nacional Los Alerces to Esquel (C). Unfortunately there had been some forest fires in the northern part of the park just recently. But even still, the views were spectacular.

We arrived in the city of Esquel (C on the map) that evening and our host, Marina, greeted us and showed us the room for grilling “parrillas” (Argentine meat BBQ’s) and recommended several hikes near the city. Tom decided to grill some steaks the next evening.

In the morning, we drove up to Cascada Nant y Fall, a reserve with several waterfalls that you can walk to in just a few minutes via boardwalks. I was amazed at how many rose hips were growing right near the walkways—ripe ones that we could snack on. But the rain came again, and we had to cut our walk a bit short and head back.

The following day we went on a hike around Laguna Zeta (“z”) and up a nearby mountain, and because they love their mate so much here, there’s a whole field on this hike dedicated to it! “Plaza de los Mates” (with a giant mate cup) was a field with some picnic spots to take a snack break.

The surrounding views from the top included some of the first we saw of snow-capped mountains off in the distance. We enjoyed the stunning lake and mountain views for hours.

A friend asked me the other day what I’m finding the most challenging so far on this adventure. One of the biggest challenges for me—as the mom and primary cook—is the constant settling in, shopping for a day or 2, preparing food, often working in tiny, ill-equipped kitchens. Then, packing up 1-3 days later—making sure nothing is forgotten—while preparing snacks and lunch for the drive, hitting the road, and then doing it all over again! 😄

It’s a lot to juggle. Is it worth it? Hands down!!

We did our biggest driving day thus far last Thursday—all the way from Esquel to Perito Moreno (537 km). We left at 9:30 am and drove through the desert until 5:30 pm with just a few stops. The highlights from the road were seeing guanaco families—Patagonian llamas—and lots of cute rheas /ñandus—Patagonian version of ostriches. There were hours of mostly just sage brush, guanacos, and rheas.

We learned a new word during our long desert drive—“BACHE” (“bachae”)—meaning pot hole. There were stretches of 50 kilometres with hundreds of baches. We hit a few of them going too fast, and quickly learned we couldn’t drive 110 km per hour on these stretches!

We let the girls loose mid-afternoon in Rio Mayo—a little oasis town—and they couldn’t get enough of running around at the park. I sat and soaked in the sun while doing several stretches to ease the tension in my back from sitting all day. Tom needed to get gas and some caffeine. Our cozy little cabaña was such a welcome sight when we finally arrived in Perito Moreno (D).

When we got to the town of Perito Moreno (not to be confused with the epic glacier with the same name) the other evening, we were underwhelmed at what we saw.

We shopped for some food for the next day, and we were at the doorstep when the restaurant opened at 7:30 pm. Part of Argentine culture means eating dinner much later than Canadians are used to.

The next day we all needed a break, so we took the morning off, and since it was sunny and warm out, we headed out to a nearby lake—Lago Buenos Aires—about 20 minutes away. What a great way to spend an afternoon! Of course the water was icy cold, but refreshing. There were rocks of every colour and mountain views around the huge shimmering lake.

From Perito Moreno the next morning, en route to El Chalten (E), we took a detour to the “Cueva de Las Manos” (hand cave) a breathtaking canyon with hand paintings and instructions of how to hunt guanacos—painted by the natives who lived here thousands of years ago. They’d make the dyes for their hand prints from plants, rocks, and animal blood, to mark that they’d been there and also to show others that this was their home. They would also follow the guanacos on their migration journey to warmer climates in winter. The canyon and river valley provided them with both a microclimate in the desert and good hunting opportunities.

It was another time on this trip when we were pleasantly surprised by how much there was to see and discover. What a place!

Tom and I are excited that our girls can one day tell their kids about this crazy adventure we did as a family when they were young. And that we’ll always have these stories of incredible experiences to share!

For fear of making this post WAY too long—and talking about yet another hike in this one—I’ll leave it there…

Thanks for coming along on our journey, friends. I’m so thankful for each of you!!

Hasta luego….amigos bonitos 😍

P.S. Next time I’ll talk about the epic hike we just did up the iconic Mt. Fitz Roy near El Chalten. 🏔️

Hi from Argentina, friends!

Wow—so much has happened in the last few weeks…where do I even begin?!

We left El Salvador in a bit of a whirlwind last week. It takes a LOT to pack up your entire life into boxes, suitcases, and hiking backpacks, and move countries. In fact, it’s not for the faint of heart, as some of you can relate! And this is the third time we’ve moved countries in just over 4 years. Call us crazy if you will—I’d agree—maybe we are!

We literally sold and gave away most of our stuff, sold our car, gave up our rental cabaña, put several boxes into storage with our dear friend (¡gracias, amiga!), and re-homed 4 cats in the last couple weeks—among countless other things! Because the homes for 2 of the cats had fallen through in the last few weeks—due to some aggressive dogs at the arranged homes—we had to scramble to find others who could care for them in calmer environments. Thankfully, the sweet family in San Salvador who’d taken our kitty, Nika, was willing to take Cheetah, our spunky, fluffy little girl, at least until October. We’re hoping to bring her back with us when we settle down (who knows where) later this year.

And our big kitty, Gatito, being quite nocturnal, couldn’t stay at the nursing home where everyone loved him—due to some ruthless guard dogs who are let out at night. But, he was able to go to the beach, joining Nika’s 2 brothers, Stripe and Teddy, to live with an amazingly kind lady from Florida who I’d met a couple years ago. She has a big jungle-like backyard for them to run around, and they’re loving it!

Suffice it to say, they all have great homes now, and we’re so thankful—God heard our prayers! 🙏🏼

We flew out early in the morning on Friday the 13th, since flights were a bit cheaper that day. Being that we’re not superstitious, we weren’t worried that some ill fate would come upon us for choosing that date. In fact, our oldest reminded us we’d flown to Costa Rica on Friday the 13th a few years ago too—haha! Guess we’ve started a tradition.

As we flew above El Salvador, my 10-year-old took this, one last view of the countryside with an epic volcano jutting up.

We met some great people along the way, including a friendly British woman travelling Latin America with her 8-year-old daughter, who became fast friends with our girls in the Panama City airport. We enjoyed some pizza and conversation with them during our 4-hour layover, and the 4 girls played some Uno. They had just spent a couple of weeks exploring El Salvador.

On the flight to Buenos Aires, I sat between my oldest daughter and an Argentine gentleman who lives in Montreal, Canada. He told me that when he’d left 30 years ago, there was just too much political instability in Argentina, and the government kept devaluing the peso to the point where the price of a loaf of bread would rise significantly within hours.

Talking to him helped ease me into Argentine“Castellano Rioplatense” Spanish. The “ll” in words that makes a “y” sound in Central American Spanish has more of a “sh” or “j” sound, making many words sound quite different here. “¿Como se yama?” becomes “¿Como se shama?” even though they’re both spelled “llama.”

He recommended several places for us to visit in Patagonia, and told me somewhat sadly that he’s here to visit his 96-year-old mom in her last weeks of life. As we neared the huge city—16.7 million people—at 1 am, he told me it’s a magical thing to fly into Buenos Aires at night. I looked out the window, and had to agree with him.

After collecting our bags and taking an expensive shuttle to our Airbnb, we were met by the friendly host, Sebastian, at 2:45am. He showed us to our tiny bachelor suite apartment, and noticing all our bags, he asked, “Are you sure there’s enough space here for your family and all of your things?”

It was definitely a tight squeeze, but for just a couple nights, we managed to make it work.

That first “night” we made it to bed at 4:30 am local time, (1:30am in El Salvador), and slept till 11. Then we wandered the neighborhood of Recoleta—a beautiful part of the city—gazing around at all the amazing architecture.

After several blocks, we came across a little café where we had some yummy empanadas de carne (beef). They were packed full of deliciously spiced ground beef with fried onions and garlic.

We were all pleasantly surprised to find that the fruit stands—on nearly every corner—are full of peaches, nectarines, grapes, pears, cherries, mangoes, blueberries, and avocados, just to name a few of the delights—we came at the right time of year!

That first day we must’ve walked about 7-8 kilometres, mostly in Recoleta, remarking on the intricacies of the European-type buildings and the statues of past leaders and heroes. We stopped at 5 city parks, each with a unique playground for the girls to run around. We all noticed how green, well-maintained, and clean the city parks are here—and, how frequently we came across them!

Locals seem so chill, walking their dogs, sitting, watching their kids or the birds, sipping maté in little groups, or just enjoying the company of others. I wondered if that was emphasized a little more too since it was Valentine’s Day— everyone was with their “amor” and there were flowers everywhere! 🩷

We happened upon a huge artisan market that was fun to walk through, and we all had to restrain ourselves, as we know how hard it is to fit all our things into our bags as it is.

The next day, we were up early, got packed up, and took 2 Ubers to our new place in another part of the city called Belgrano. It’s different from Mexico / El Salvador where we all crammed into one car—drivers in those countries didn’t require us to wear seatbelts. Not to mention, we have too much luggage (like camping gear) for just one car this time around!

This apartment is full of beautiful wood furniture and has 2 small bedrooms. Tom and I are staying in the living room with a flip-out couch so we can have some quiet morning time at 6, before the girls get up.

Because our last few weeks in El Salvador were so hectic, we decided to stay a week in Buenos Aires (BA) to regroup. We’re thankful for a bit of downtime before our big Patagonia adventure.

There are so many things that are different here—where does one even begin..?

• It doesn’t get dark till 8 pm—at least right now in summer—2 extra hours of light each evening.

• The culture here is quite European.

• We’re enjoying not having to drive, and just walking around to parks and stores.

• Argentine Spanish sounds more like it’s spoken with an Italian twist, and has lots of words that are new to us.

• We don’t stick out as a blonde family—that’s pretty refreshing after 4 years!

• The cheese, meat, and baked goods are much more like what you’d find in Italy, France, Holland, or Spain—with little specialty shops everywhere 😋

  

• There’s hot water for washing dishes, we can drink the tap water, and we can even flush our toilet paper again, after 4 years!

• And while we’re on that topic, it seems like every home here has a bidet in the bathroom. If you don’t know, just google it!

• Argentina has many varying climates and diverse cultures in one big country—so much to explore and discover.

• It’s challenging to calculate prices here because we are so used to prices being in dollars—inflation has made it so the Argentine peso converts at 1,400 pesos to $1 US!

• There are dogs on leashes everywhere—and dog walkers too. It’s not uncommon to see 7-8 dogs all attached to one person.

  

  We had a fun day on Monday with our new British friends. They invited us to come to “Parque Norte” a water park in the northern part of BA. It was a hot day, and we all got a little too much sun. But the pools were cool and refreshing, and the girls had a blast with their friend.

We found a little butcher shop near our place, and bought some nice cuts of meat for dinner the last few evenings. The great pasta options inspired some fettuccine Alfredo made with egg pasta. I also found some gnocchi (potato pasta) at the corner store and made a tomato sauce to go over it. Tom fried up some juicy, delicious steak.

It’s quite a change to be here. At first I was a little homesick for El Salvador—it’s not easy for me to leave friends behind. But all 5 of us knew we needed a change, and since arriving here, we’ve realized it was the right decision.

Tuesday was a quiet home day, with a few walks around the neighborhood and some homeschooling while Tom caught up on some work.

Then, on Wednesday we took the subway—the girls’ first time ever—and then hopped on a city bus to La Boca, a famous port settlement in Buenos Aires, over 440 years old. Thanks to a suggestion from our British friends, we took a 2-hour guided tour of the area with a group of English-speakers. It was well-worth the effort to get there, and the $13 tickets. This touristy area is well-known for its brightly-coloured buildings, said to have been painted by the Italian immigrants with leftover paint from the ships.

We learned about the artist, Benito Quinquela Martín, who started out as an orphan in La Boca, was adopted at 7 years old, and took art lessons. Later in life, when he became a renowned artist, he used his earnings to help the less fortunate babies and children of La Boca by funding schools and hospitals. There are statues of him and displays of his artwork all around La Boca.

It was so interesting to hear about the history of “fútbol” (“soccer” for many of my readers) here too. The Boca Juniors are an incredibly famous team now and our guide told us about their humble beginnings, and explained to us that their stadium was built up-up-up for lack of space in the area, and it rocks back and forth during games. It now costs between $100-$800 for a seat at one of their games!

On our way back to Belgrano, we decided to wander down to Plaza de Mayo, a famous area of the city where the Casa Rosada (literally: pink house), the federal government building is.

We also looked around inside the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral—the architecture was breath-taking! It has a memorial with the remains of General José de San Martín, Argentina's most revered hero, who led Argentina’s fight for independence in 1816.

I assigned my “students” to write about yesterday and what they learned in La Boca and at Plaza de Mayo. It’s exciting to see our dreams becoming a reality these days—showing our girls more of the world, and letting them learn from their surroundings.

Argentines seem like friendly people, and are apparently quite blunt—they don’t sugar-coat, but say it like it is. For Canadians—who can be scared to offend anyone—that is so different from what we’re used to. I’m learning so much about the culture, just from observing, and reading this little book I found yesterday. The title itself can have varied meanings, depending who you say it to. 😅

We’re looking forward to seeing a bit more of the city before we fly to northern Patagonia on Sunday to begin our big hiking / camping adventure down there. We hope to make it all the way to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. This will require a lot of driving!

I’m sure I’ll have lots more to tell you all in a few weeks, once we’ve seen some of the breath-taking nature of Patagonia.

In the meantime, ¡que Dios los bendiga mucho, amigos!

Until next time, friends! 😊

As the Argentines say, “¡Chau!”

Hi, my beautiful friends! 😍

¡Feliz Año Nuevo! 🎊🎉

Welcome to all my new readers!

And, thank you—all of you—for following our journey. I’ve randomly met a few people (online or in person) lately who’ve said, “I read your blog and follow your family’s journey…”

That warms my heart so much, and inspires me to continue! ♥️

Let’s see…December felt like such a gift—our family spending time with my parents here, and reconnecting with them. A big highlight was celebrating Christmas together. Having them around was such a special time for all of us. We had a lot of fun adventures, and it was almost like we saw some things here with new eyes, as they were seeing it for the first time. They so appreciated the beauty of our beaches, hiking to the waterfalls and viewpoints, looking out at the ocean and volcanoes in the distance, our road trip to the quaint little mountain town of Ataco, and soaking in the mineral-rich hot springs there.

They enjoyed trying bean and cheese pupusas, (Salvadoran national food) that come with tomato sauce and curtido, a vinegary coleslaw. Being here just after rainy season, they could see how lush and green El Salvador is, and were thankful that it’s less humid this time of year. My mom especially appreciated the brilliantly-coloured and diverse flowers we have up here in our little mountain community, and we took some time to explore the coffee farm that Tom helps manage, Finca Cielo Azul. For me, it was also a time for some much-needed deep conversations with both my mom and dad, and I’m so thankful for those!

As I’ve been pondering what I should write about for this post, I realized that I’ve been facing quite an inner struggle regarding our next step. I think all of us have in various ways. Giving up what we’ve gotten used to, and starting all over in a new place isn’t an easy task.

And I have to say, as a mom with kids, this is at a whole different level than it was for me in my twenties when I travelled the world on several missions trips.

A few days ago, I was reading in Ecclesiastes 3, and that’s what inspired my title:

“To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heavens…a time to plant, and a time to uproot…”

That’s the thing. Uprooting is difficult and painful. But it’s a necessary part of life. Starting something new usually requires leaving something else behind. Emptying your hands so they’re open for something else. We did that four years ago…and it was hard then too. Back then it felt like survival. This time is a bit different.

I’ve had several people tell me in the past few years, since leaving Canada:

“You’re living my dream!”

or

“Wow—I sure wish I could do what you guys are doing!”

These sorts of comments were actually part of what inspired me to start writing this blog—to be more honest and transparent about the reality of what this “adventure lifestyle” is all about.

For us it WAS always our dream to take our kids to new places, so I totally understand that sentiment. At the same time, I think practically anyone with the desire could do what we did. After all, Tom and I didn’t have jobs or any ideas for an income source when we left Canada. **It was nothing less than a miracle that Tom got asked to come back to his former company, simply because they were in a “bind” at the time. And we both saw that as a gift—from the One who provides! And then, when his Canadian employer was about to lay him off, he met his current bosses around that same time.

I think if you’re on the right path, God will always make a way.

Of course, that doesn’t mean it won’t be challenging at times. Here’s a photo of what it often looked like to be living our dream while we were travelling around Mexico.

Exhilarating, but exhausting.

As I reflect on what it’s taken to do what we’ve done—leaving ALL that’s familiar and living in a foreign country with an unfamiliar language (we knew minimal Spanish) it was not easy by any means.

Beautiful, amazing, exotic, and life-changing. But far from easy.

And, yet…here we go again!

We’re hoping to leave El Salvador in just a few short weeks. We’re excited. And, on the other hand, it’s heart-wrenching. How can we knowingly be putting ourselves through all of this again?!

Below is a photo that I stumbled upon while scrolling back four years ago on my phone. Taxis in Mexico never had seatbelts in the back seat—maybe because they’d often put six or more people back there..? And so, I prayed. Lots. This photo reminds me of how my 3-year-old would be napping, while I held up her head, and my other two girls would be squeezed in next to us. Sometimes for hours on end. It was definitely nothing short of an adventure.

And honestly, I have no regrets!

But, I wanted to share a bit about the inner struggle I’m experiencing right now, so that you, my readers, are aware —and don’t just see the happy photos of us in Argentina in a month or two.

And because I don’t want to sugar-coat things!

A few days ago, I sat at the park, watching the sunrise, and pondered. I realized I need to be honest and share what it is I’m facing. So, I sat there and journaled awhile, writing out my fears and the challenges I’m feeling.

And I soaked in this awesome view.

It feels like our hearts are already in Argentina in some ways, but we have some loose-ends to tie up here before we can leave. We hope to sell our land, need to sell the car, and have to find homes for a few kitties first. Among other things.

But I feel like this “struggle” is much deeper than those outward things.

I’ve been saying to a few people that this phase we’re in feels like a “trust exercise,” because I keep having to surrender all the unknowns.

And there are a LOT of unknowns…here’s some of what I know we’ll face…and some of what we’re already facing…

We are or will be:

• Leaving the friends we’ve made here in El Salvador…and trusting we’ll make new ones in time.

• Back to living like hobos—homeless by choice—going from one Airbnb to the next.

• Staying in ill-equipped places at times.

• Having to live out of bags again, and much more minimally.

• Giving up most of the “comfort” items we’ve collected over the last few years.

• Figuring out food and planning meals in a new place and discovering where to buy various things, OR discovering what’s not available.

• Knowing our marriage will be tested, as navigating the unknowns together can be stressful.

• Homeschooling while travelling—mostly wonderful, but it can sure have its days!

• Navigating the pros and cons of hiking and camping as a family in Patagonia.

• Needing to find and rent a reliable vehicle.

• For me—having to rely on Tom to make lots of decisions and trusting his judgment.

• Comforting our girls as they grieve their losses of leaving all that’s familiar—friends, pets, etc.

• Finding homes for the pets we’ve adopted here.

• Being that much farther from our families.

• Embracing and navigating a new culture.

• Learning how to speak and understand Argentine Spanish—it’s quite different!

• Accepting that adjusting to changes takes time.

• Knowing that some people will think we’re crazy and will pass judgment, and others will embrace us.

• Adjusting to being pretty cold again for part of the year.

• Figuring out different laws, norms, and customs in a new place.

• Allowing mess-ups to happen and being OK with being in transition.

This quote came to mind as I was writing this post…

I can SO resonate with that right now.

It’s funny, I’m looking forward to staying in places with a living room, as we haven’t had one for 17 months now. This little cabin is about 750 square feet. And we just have a make-shift bench with cushions as a “couch.” Our three girls share a room. Tom’s and my little (10’ x 11’) bedroom is also our office, sewing room, storage, piano room, laundry folding area, and lounge. 😅

We hadn’t lived in such a small space since we had our first baby 12 years ago.

But, on the plus side, we’ve proven to ourselves that we can make it work and be happy in this cute little space.

And God has proven something to me while we’ve lived in these mountains—He hears us when we ask for help, and He takes care of us. I have never prayed so much while driving! You have to, when you’re navigating these windy, narrow mountain roads with many drivers all too willing to come around blind corners half in your lane, swerving at the last second as you honk at them. I’m often shocked at their audacity. To be fair, there are some good drivers here too! 😄

Yes, every time we get in the car, we pray for safety. And I drive much more slowly than I used to, especially on those blind, narrow corners. All things considered, my car accident on the beach a year ago (getting rear-ended) was minor compared to so many accidents we’ve seen or narrowly avoided here. I’m beyond grateful for how God has kept us.

We’ll miss our expat community, the amazing beaches, the tropical fruit, and the incredibly welcoming locals, some of whom have become our dear friends.

We’re so grateful to this country, and that Salvadorans have taken us in these last few years, and made us feel so welcome.

I know I’ll miss bringing dog food to our neighbours down by the river, and I’ll miss our weekly conversations. Today, I was down there, chatting with my sweet neighbour friend (who took this photo) and dancing with one of the pups.

I’ll miss pulling up at the fruit stand, hearing the ladies yelling, “Hola, princessa!” and giving me all of their suggestions on what I should buy as they help me fill my bags with delicious fruit and veg.

I’ll miss walking the beach with my friends.

I’ll miss it all.

Who knows what the future will hold.

But, somehow I know it’s time for us to move on…

Until then, thanks for reading, amigos!

Sending love from El Salvador! 🇸🇻 ❤️

¡Nos vemos pronto!

My parents are here, and we’re all having a wonderful time—it’s fun to see the girls getting some much-needed bonding time with them after 3 years. When they first arrived, we got to stay on the beach at the Airbnb we help manage, and that was such a refreshing week together!

Since I last posted, these few weeks have been so full, and often challenging, but as I reflect, I’m so grateful for the many gifts that have been sprinkled in along the way.

I won’t go into more detail about the subject of my last post, finding homes for our animals. Except to say, it has been a hard and somewhat heartbreaking task.

In mid-November, my oldest daughter and I prepped for the farmers market at the Adopting Bitcoin Conference. Because I’d been sick right up until the week of the conference (possibly from mold in our cabin) I didn’t even know if I’d be able to go. But, after a week of fighting it—feeling a bit desperate—I took a friend’s advice and made a potent concoction which included ginger, garlic, lime, cayenne, and turmeric. It felt like a “fire” was burning away the toxins from inside. And it did the trick. Within a few hours I had my energy back! 😊

I had spent countless hours sewing Bitcoin pouches and bags, some with Mayan or tropical fabrics, and I was feeling hopeful they’d sell.

We spent several days making cookies, energy balls, gluten-free muffins, and refreshing drinks including tepache, a fermented pineapple drink. My 12-year-old, keen to earn some money, picked and squeezed about 30 lemons from the tree in our community. In El Salvador, limes are everywhere, but you rarely see lemons. We added some honey and pure water, and it was a delicious lemonade. I also made some hibiscus tea with honey, lime, and cinnamon. In Spanish they call it “té de Jamaica” and it’s a red-wine colour.

My daughters had made dozens of bracelets, some pretty necklaces, and cute earrings to sell. Friday morning bright and early, we packed our little car full, and were all set up by 9.

The morning started off a bit slow, but by mid-afternoon everyone was hungry, and we were busy. We had some great conversations with various people, and it was a fun day. It was dark when we headed home, exhausted. But, the muffins had been such a hit, I decided to make more that evening. You could say it was a long day—6am to 10 pm!

Saturday was even busier at the conference—word had gotten out, and people came to us saying,

“I heard you have some peanut butter power balls…” or “Someone told me your muffins are delicious!”

And so, we sold out of almost all the treats, and most of the drinks. Bitcoin bags and pouches were also a hit. This couple came at the end of the day for some handbags so they could bring back their extra Salvadoran souvenirs on the plane. (Photo used with permission).

Once again, we drove home in the dark, but it had been worth all the effort.

Sunday was a much-needed recovery day!

Then, it was time to prep for our trip to Cancun for the next phase of my dental work. I wanted a travel companion, and our oldest had recently finished up her schooling for this past year, so I’d invited her to come along, and Tom loved the idea.

When I’d booked the 7 am flights, I hadn’t thought about the logistics too much. But, being that we’re over an hour from the airport, we had to get up at 2:30 am, and be ready for our driver at the gate at 3!

I had all the paperwork ready, since I needed a notarized letter stating Tom’s permission in order to leave the country with our oldest. And, because our permanent residency was still being processed, I had documents in regard to that as well. It took us awhile to get all our paperwork approved at immigration—praying at 4:30 am, as I worried they might not let us go—and, thankfully all ducks were in a row, and we were on our way. It was a beautiful sight to see El Salvador’s beaches, farms, and volcanoes from high above.

We had a shuttle straight from the Cancun airport to the dentist, for my first consult. Then, since we were too overtired to do much of anything, we ate an early dinner, bought some groceries, and were in bed at 8.

The next day, since I didn’t have any appointments, we took a bus to Puerto Morelos, and found a taxi driver to take us to a nearby cenote. Cenotes are freshwater pools formed by an underground river chain in parts of Mexico. I’d prayed that we’d find one with a Tarzan swing or something similar, because my daughter loves swinging and jumping in from high above the water. So I asked the driver, and sure enough, the first ones along the “Ruta de las Cenotes” called Cenote Sol y Cenote Luna (sun and moon) had a zip-line!

Once we got there, we realized it also had lots of platforms ranging from 8-12 feet above the beautiful emerald green water. We both had a blast, each taking the zip line several times, and jumping in from most of the platforms too.

After swimming around awhile, we dried off and got dressed, ready to walk to the other nearby cenote. But, some dark clouds had rolled in, and a torrential downpour suddenly started. We were so thankful we’d had over an hour to enjoy that special place.

Thankfully, after about 15 minutes, the rain died down to a drizzle, and we got a taxi to the beautiful beach in Puerto Morelos. It was fun to be back where our family had stayed for 6 weeks when we first escaped Canada 4 years ago. We found a cute little Mexican restaurant and ordered a shrimp fajita and a shrimp burrito for our late lunch. Mmmm!

Then, we walked around, reminiscing about things we’d enjoyed in that cute little town. We even found our favourite book store which had since moved and is now twice the size. After about an hour of browsing there, we went to the beach for awhile. It was cloudy, so we just sat and watched the pelicans dive-bombing for fish.

We then got a taxi back to the main part of town, and from there another bus back to Cancun.

The next day was not so fun. I had an early appointment to replace 3 cracked fillings. And immediately after that, I had my mini-surgery to put in the two zirconia implants. I’d done my research, and even though most dentists say titanium is better because it’s stronger, zirconia is much more biocompatible, and I’m thankful I was able to go that route. Shoutout to my dentist, Dr. Arturo, at Dental Design. He did an amazing job! And I love that he plays Christian worship music with beautiful videos of Mexico for his patients to watch. Makes the experience much more endurable.

It was a rough few hours, with 11 pokes of anesthetic all together, extra because of the fillings. I know—not good for my health, but I’m detoxing now. Thankfully, it all went smoothly, and now I just have to wait 5 months or more to get the crowns.

I was proud of my daughter—she’d had a long 4-5 hours of waiting for me, and I wanted to reward her by taking her to the beach. But, I was in too much pain and my face was still frozen for a few hours post-op, so we went back to our apartment and I took some ibuprofen and held an ice pack to my painful face.

After a couple hours, and with my girl begging me, we ventured out to find a place to eat dinner. We’d googled some options, and decided on one, but when we got there it was more of a noisy, grab-and-go kind of place. There were a few stools by the wall, but it wasn’t the atmosphere we’d hoped for. So, we looked up restaurants nearby and found La Parrilla. It was beautifully decorated, and all the servers were wearing traditional Mexican dresses and suits. I opted to eat some guacamole, as that’s all my mouth could handle.

The juicy beef burrito my daughter ordered came with a tasty bean soup, so she let me eat that too.

The next day, I had a quick check up with some x-rays in the morning, and then we went to the amazing beach only 5 minutes away from the clinic along the hotel zone. We enjoyed a couple hours there, jumping in the waves and reading. Then, we found the nearby seafood restaurant my mom and I had loved so much and sat enjoying the pretty views of the lagoon.

By this point I was feeling better, so we decided to take a ferry to Isla de Mujeres (island of women) from Playa las Tortugas (turtle beach).

It was quite a surprise to hear a ferry coming in with profane rap music blaring. I worried that would be our music on the way over too. But, thankfully it turned out, that was a private ferry, and we had a different one with a little Mexican man on his guitar, who serenaded all of us.

It was a beautiful day, and so much fun to be on that ferry and then the island. Our trip back just after sunset was increíble too. In fact, I had one of those moments where you’re so happy you can’t help but smile and cry at the same time. Sitting there, next to my preteen daughter, listening to the same little Mexican man on his guitar—as had been on the ferry 6 months earlier when I was with MY mom—singing “Isabel…” again was so nostalgic and felt magical, like a gift. The gentle waves rocked our ferry along as our hair blew in the wind, and all felt right in the world. I hugged my girl close and kissed her head.

“Thank you for bringing me to Mexico, Mommy. I had so much fun!” she smiled at me, and we looked back over at the lights sparkling on the horizon.

My Uber ap wasn’t working, so we took a local Mexican bus back to our place, and I noticed the guy next to me was doing Duo Lingo on his phone. I asked him what language he’s learning. “Dutch” he replied. We proceeded to have a great conversation in Spanish, and he told me he’s saving up to travel around Europe soon. Being that 3 of my grandparents were from the Netherlands (Holland) and spoke Dutch, and I’d gone there (and around Europe) years ago, it was fun to chat. He was fascinated that we live in El Salvador, and plan to go to Argentina. Had we taken an Uber, it would have cost $14 more, and that organic conversation would never have happened. I was reminded that everything happens for a reason.

The next morning, it was time to pack up already. We both felt ready to be home with our family again.

It’s a busy but amazing transition time in our lives, and we’re so blessed to have my parents here and have this time to reconnect after years apart. So far they’re loving our country, and we’re doing lots of little outings and fun adventures together.

¡Feliz Navidad, mis amigos bonitos! ¡Dios los bendiga a todos!

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Merry Christmas, my beautiful friends! May God bless you all!

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

P.S. Please comment or send me a private message or email, if you haven’t lately, as I love hearing from you, my readers. ❤️ I often wonder who is reading my blog & it’s such a morale-booster to get some feedback or even a simple hello! 😊

Change is in the air.

I told a friend recently:

“I keep swaying between faith and fear in regards to this next adventure. I’m excited, but the unknown also scares me at times.”

Changes are exciting, but also hard. Sometimes they can feel unbearably hard.

I’ve always hated saying goodbye.

We have to leave behind lots of special friends that we’ve grown close to here in El Salvador. Friends from all over the world—England, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Russia, Japan, Holland, Israel, Canada, America, etc. They’re all here for many of the same reasons as us. It’s so hard to have to say goodbye. We have met some amazing people here, and some have become such dear friends! ❤️

And we’ve known for months already that leaving would mean having to find homes for our 5 cats and 3 dogs, but when that was still months away, it didn’t seem as hard as it is in reality. 😢

We haven’t committed to moving per se, but just travelling around for 6-8 months, and seeing if Argentina feels like a good fit for our family. We’re all excited for the changes that come with going to a new place, and the opportunity to explore a new part of the world. We’ve told our girls for years about Patagonia, and we’re all looking forward to seeing it for the first time.

Tom’s quick trip in May just gave him a small taste of what life is like in Argentina nowadays, and he only just briefly saw a bit of northern Patagonia.

Our trip back in 2012 didn’t include Patagonia at all, so I’m excited to keep you all posted on our backpacking adventures down there in the new year. The girls are especially excited to see snow again.😃

We decided to do a little local adventure a couple weeks ago. There’s an area just south of San Salvador called Planes de Renderos. And there’s a beautiful place there called Puerta del Diablo (literally “the devil’s door”). It’s been made into a modern tourist attraction in the last few years, and there are a few little hikes with viewpoints as well as an insanely high zip line that stretches way above the main area, where there are shops, restaurants, and viewing platforms.

We arrived around 10:30 am, and it was already getting hot. We explored around a bit, and found a rocky area with a great view. Then we signed up for a mini hike where you had to pay and have a guide—like almost all popular hikes here in El Salvador. We joined the line with some locals and a German tourist, who told us it’s his first time in the country. He was looking forward to doing the crazy-high zip line afterwards.

The “hike” up was basically 10-15 minutes of climbing up some rocky steps carved into the side of a huge rock. Then we were there. The views of Volcan San Vicente and Lago de Ilopango were spectacular!

There was also a beautiful open “cave” to walk to that was like an indent in the side of a small mountain, dripping water down from its rugged ceiling. Exploring around there was a fun way to spend a Saturday morning. Afterwards, we found a local restaurant just down the road, because we’d heard this area has the BEST pupusas in the country. They were yummy, but we’ve had just as good on the beach. We ordered the typical “sopa de gallina” or free range chicken soup. For each of us it came with a big piece of chicken and some tortillas. And it was so delicious!

Like I mentioned, because we’re in the last few months of our time here for awhile, we’ve been trying to find homes for our 5 cats. And also hoping to find homes for the 3 dogs—who adopted us over a year ago in the mountains.

Our friend Sofi (not her real name) who was our neighbour on the beach, has been doing an incredible job of helping us with this daunting task. She has lots of great connections, and has been asking everyone she can think of—we owe her all the credit!

Not many people seem to want a new pet in this country. Anyone here who wants a cat or a dog can just look around, take one off the street, help it out, and claim it. Which is why we have so many!! 😄

We’ve been trying to gently ease our pet-loving girls into this season of releasing. There have been many extra snuggles and often tears too.

Last week, we took our gentle, sweet Nika to her new home—she was the favourite for a few of us, so it was a sad day. Sofi had asked a friend in San Salvador if they’d like a cat, and because this woman’s 12-year-old daughter was over the moon about the idea, we needed to get Nika there as soon as we could, before she found another cat!

That afternoon we all got in the car with our anxious, meowing cat in her little cage perched on our daughter’s lap. The girls sang her lullabies and spoke gently to her for the 45-minute drive.

It wasn’t easy saying goodbye to the sweet little cat we’d raised from a tiny kitten. She’d followed our girls home from the pool one day with 2 of her brothers. At first they were “outside only” kittens, and Tom and I said, “We’re probably not keeping them!” Until one day when we realized they were always inside, and they’d become part of our family.

Nika was a fighter. She’d had a lung infection as a tiny kitten, and was quite underweight. She’s been our whispering kitty ever since. When she would beg for her wet food in the morning, it was with a whispering meow from her throat. But then she would proceed to finish off ALL the wet food from all the other cats, licking it up till the dishes were shiny! 😸

Her new family seems to love her. But it was still with many tears that we left her behind.

Loss and grief can feel crushing at times. But that’s the season we’re in…Looking forward to the new, but also releasing many of the special things we’ve held dear during this chapter.

We got back home from delivering Nika, teary-eyed, and the next day, we realized that we had a major problem with our oldest dog, Ruthie.

We’ve cared for Ruthie for about 15 months, since she came to us as a starving mountain dog. Since then, she’s been like a part of our family—along with her daughter, Starlight and our male dog, Big Guy. She would come running with Tom and me in the mornings, and she preferred Tom over me when given a choice! Big Guy was always more loyal to me.

Even though Ruthie was quite old and nearly blind, she was such a loyal, brave, caring dog, defending our girls from some vicious dogs on our walks and runs.

Warning: this part gets a little raw and real.

But, for the last weeks of her life, Ruthie had a deep wound that wasn’t healing. This year there’s been an epidemic in El Salvador of a type of fly that lays its eggs, which soon grow into larvae, in open wounds. And so, this wound—hidden on her backside under her tail—had the flesh-eating larvae in it. And, being that it was already quite deep, this was a huge problem. I’d started her on antibiotics in hopes that what I thought was a small sore would heal. By the time we realized that it was quite deep (and full of worms), it was pretty far-gone. And by then the odour was awful. We took her to the vet, fearing the worst, and they recommended we put her down, saying the worms were most likely already in her organs.

Even in her suffering, Ruthie never complained. She loved her life and lived it to the fullest, always joining us on our daily runs and walks, and enjoying her down-time lying in the sunshine too.

The staff at Chivo Pets were so kind and helpful, one even carrying her for me when she refused to budge. That all helped us in her final hours—a lot.

It was such a hard day for each one of us. And I felt some guilt about the whole thing. How could I have missed this?!

Poor girl, suffering like that!

We’re so sorry, sweet Ruthie! 😔

We all miss her dearly! 💔

Side note: Just this past month, President Bukele announced that he’s going to be starting a project to help stray dogs in El Salvador along with Niall Harbison (a man who has been doing this sort of work for years in other developing countries). We’re so thankful for this, after seeing so much suffering, and feeling like our little bit of helping was just a drop in the bucket.

I also need to mention—since my last post, we found a home for our other two dogs. A family near the beach who Sofi volunteers with is taking Starlight and Big Guy. 🥲

We’re thankful they can stay together, since they’re best friends. 💞

Two of our cats will go to homes on the beach in early January—again, thanks to our amazing friend. So, we just have Nika’s two brothers to find a home for now.

I know I’ve gone on about the pets in this post, but there are SO many aspects to leaving that are hard. That’s just one of them. It feels big for us, because these 8 animals have become part of our everyday lives, and we’ve formed strong bonds with them.

We’re preparing ourselves for this new chapter. Letting go and saying goodbye to all that’s familiar can be so hard. But it’s still so worth it to have opened up our hearts and loved—friends and pets!

We have no regrets—we just wish we could take them all with us! I reminded my girls of this last week:

It’s worth the risk to open up your heart and to love deeply. I keep asking God for the strength and the courage we each need for right now. This process of letting go, in order to be open to whatever God has for us in this next step isn’t easy, but it is so necessary.

We’re all looking forward to having my parents come down here in December. It will be fun to show them around and celebrate Christmas with them for the first time in several years. For them it will be their first Christmas in the tropics. I’ll keep you posted on our escapades in the new year.

All of this to say, I’m leaning into faith over fear. And trust over doubt. 😊

As the old hymn says:

“Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!”

—Thomas O. Chisholm (1923)

Until next time, friends!

¡Hasta la próxima, amigos!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends and family! 🍁 🦃 🍂

We have so much to be thankful for! We celebrated a week early—roast chicken and all the fixings, and apple crisp for dessert—with Tom’s family all here from Canada.

Thanks for your patience! It’s been a couple months since I posted. The last 2 months have been hard, good, and so busy—in more ways than one.

First we had a lot of sickness in our family. Tom and the girls had bad colds, then I got the flu and was sick in bed for 9 days. Ugh. The first few days were possibly the worst flu I’ve ever had. Two of our girls also got it for a few days. Tom has also been wrestling with a sinus infection on and off as well. But, we’re all feeling much better now, thank God!

Another thing that hit me hard in the last while was the assassination of Charlie Kirk. I know he said lots of controversial things, but he was willing to discuss those things with those whom he disagreed with. I’d been following him for awhile, and was inspired by his motto, “Let’s have a conversation” and how he believed that if we can’t encourage free speech and open dialogue about our differences, we’ll end up in civil war.

Sadly, the way he died proved his point.

He stood up for his Christian beliefs, was pro-life, and discussed why men shouldn’t be allowed in womens’ sports, among other topics. He was always respectful, even when he strongly disagreed with another person.

I had another dream this past week. It almost felt like Part II of the one I shared in my last post—where I asked myself if I was married and had kids, or if had missed my “window.”

In this recent dream, I was living in a sort of Groundhog Day reality, where I was still living at home, 20+ years after I’d graduated, and every day felt the same. A few of the friends I’d grown up with were in the same boat, and it felt like we were all living a zombie-existence. My constant thought in the dream was, “Is this all there is to life..?!”

Thankfully, my life has been anything but dull or monotonous!

Tom and I have realized in our 15 years together that there are different seasons in life, and we often don’t tend to see it that way while we’re in any given season. We sometimes think that whatever is happening now will continue forever. But truth be told, for us at least, that’s not how life works. And actually…that’s a good thing!

Variety IS the spice of life.

I believe we were all born for adventure.

I’m so thankful for all the volunteering overseas that I was able to do in my 20’s, and how I got used to living in developing countries like Namibia, the Philippines, India, and South Africa. And now El Salvador. Honestly, it hasn’t felt overly rustic living here, but a few things have been an adjustment. Like not being able to flush toilet paper, only having cold water for the dishes, and having SO many stray animals around—we wish we could help them all! The girls named this guy “Mango” and he lives by our property. We feed him whenever we’re there.

When Tom and I met, as I’ve mentioned before, we both wanted to learn Spanish and travel in Latin America. We had no idea our dream would eventually mean living long-term in this part of the world. But, it has been an incredible adventure and we’ve gotten to learn SO much along the way. We’ve been stretched…and in various ways we’ve had to become more flexible throughout this journey, and actually, so have our girls.

When we left Canada in late 2021, we had few options, based on our deeply-held convictions. In fact, Mexico was the only country where we could go if we didn’t want to do PCR tests or show a vaccine passport.

In early 2022 our 6-month visas expired in Mexico, and we were looking for other places where we could live freely. El Salvador had recently dropped its Covid restrictions, so we decided to come here to see how things were going for expats on the ground. We were pleasantly surprised, when we met some great, like- minded people, and decided to make it “home” for awhile.

We bought a property here in November, 2022. It’s an amazing 2 lots with breath-taking ocean and mountain views, and we’ve loved spending time there, picking avocados, mangoes, and mandarins, and just being in nature. We had our dream home all planned out. The land itself would make a great place for gardens, some rental cabañas, and more—with mature fruit trees already there, and being just 20 minutes from the beach, but in a cooler climate.

But…we started to question if that was really where we wanted to live. It would mean over an hour-long drive just to get to the city for shopping or activities for our girls. And the climate, although cooler than the beach, is still often too hot for us Canadians. We started to wonder if there was a reason for the delays with us getting a water connection, and began to think about what kind of life we want for our family for the next 10 years or so.

So, we began to think outside the box a bit. And, after over 3 years in El Salvador, we feel that it’s time for yet another adventure. We know this country fairly well, and we love so many things about it. But, we all feel like it’s time for something new.

I’ve mentioned how Salvadorans are so welcoming and friendly, always willing to offer a smile or a helping hand. And, it’s such a naturally beautiful place—volcanoes, palm trees, beaches, amazing sunsets, and colourful birds and flowers everywhere! We’ve lived in 4 different homes in 3 different areas in the last 3 years. Each one has been unique, and offered our kids a place to learn and grow.

After 18 months down on the hot and humid beach, near many of our expat friends, we were all more than ready for some cooler mountain air. Now we’ve been up here near Comasagua—an hour from our beach friends—for over a year already.

It’s been a great place for the girls to play outside, any time of day. It’s also offered Tom and me a place for running or just to BE in nature each morning, sipping our locally grown coffee (Tom helps manage the farm) while enjoying the sounds of birds singing, and looking out at the scenic mountain landscapes.

Tom’s family all arrived a few weeks ago for a visit—and for some of them, a race.

On September 28, Tom, his sister, and her husband set out to run an 80-kilometre ultramarathon with over 3,700 metres of elevation gain, starting in Comasagua. I don’t think I’ve ever met people so dedicated to this sort of thing—it was their THIRD long race this year!

I feel a bit silly mentioning this, but I signed up for a 12-k on the same day in these mountains. Partly to show support, and also just because I’ve never officially done more than 8-k before. But 2 days before the race, I realized that I hadn’t fully signed up online—missed that last click—so I wasn’t going to be racing with everyone else…ugh!

But, not one to let a minor technicality ruin my fun, I decided to borrow my mother-in-law’s smart watch and run my 12-k on the trail I normally run down to the river. And so, instead of doing it just once, I ran it 3 times, and got to my 12-k goal. Woot! 🎉

As I ran, knowing they’d be running ALL day, I thought of the suffering they were enduring, compared to the bit of pain I felt. Compared to their gruelling ordeal, it was almost nothing to run for a few hours! Well, to be honest, it was a bit of a stretch for me, since I normally only run 3-4 km a few times a week.

I had dropped the 3 ultramarathoners off at 3 AM in Comasagua, and they ran…and ran. It was gruelling, in the muddy mountain trails.

After 9 hours, at the 48-k cutoff, Tom and Tyson were told they couldn’t continue, as they hadn’t made the strict cutoff time, although only by minutes.

They had mixed feelings, as you can imagine. They were pretty disappointed to not be continuing with Tanya, but also slightly relieved—due to their pain and exhaustion.

At this point, it began pouring rain, and they were directed to a shelter, and told to wait for a truck to pick them up. Finally, an hour later, a truck came up the rugged mountain road with a few other racers. And, Salvadoran-style, they loaded into the truck box—open-air—with the others.

Meanwhile, Tanya—who had trained by doing thousands of step-ups and step-downs using weights to strengthen her legs—proceeded to finish the WHOLE 80-k in just over 15 hours. But, it was brutal. Near the end, she even had to go through a stretch of about 2 kilometres of deep mud…she said she almost cried—it was just torture.

Out of the 23 racers who began the 80-k, only 5 completed it. And 3 of those were women! They were sure troopers! 🎉 👏(Tanya is on the right).

We had a wonderful time with them here, and were sad to see Tanya and Tyson leave last Sunday night. But Tom’s parents are still here till late next week, and the girls are thoroughly enjoying their break from school work.

Now, back to my previous thoughts…

We’ve been wondering where we can live that would provide us with a few things we’re looking for—some of which are here, but not necessarily all of these:

• A cooler climate

• Ability to be in nature and have lots to explore

• Live in or close to a small city where our kids can be close to their friends

• Less driving to get to activities and go shopping

• Own some land with a good water source

• Possibility of an affordable private school for the girls—one thing that’s pricey here

• A country that is pro-freedom and “anti-woke”

• A bigger country with more variety of climates, 4 seasons, and places to explore

We’ve decided that Argentina checks a lot of those boxes. Tom and I were there 13 years ago, when we were newly-married, and we loved the climate, ate affordable, delicious steak almost every day, and we travelled around some of the beautiful countryside.

In late April, Tom went down for a quick “scouting trip” for 10 days, in the Cordoba province and also northern Patagonia, and he loved it. He stayed with an American guy we met here who had moved down there last year and loves the culture and climate.

There are many small cities with a European feel—little “Mom and Pop” shops lining the streets—a nice little bakery, a locally-made artisan chocolate shop, a cheese store with various amazing-looking cheeses, a quaint café, a small grocery store with local produce, quality oils, spices, sauces, and pastas. Tom also loved how locals will gather in the parks or by the rivers and lakes just to enjoy quiet conversations and their maté—a local herbal drink with a special cup and straw, many people like to share.

One thing we’ve noticed in the last few years is that El Salvador has a lot of American influence—shopping centres are popping up all over the place now, with Wendy’s, KFC, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Dollar City, Super Selectos (a Salvadoran grocery chain), etc. Not that we don’t shop at some of these places, but it feels like these big chains and shopping centres are literally taking over the country, and big box stores and fast food chains are becoming the norm here.

We know every country has its problems and we’ll find them wherever we go. Argentina does seem to be heading in a positive direction though.

The country had been going through challenging times for many years due to corrupt and incompetent politicians that had been running the country into the ground—similar to what is happening in Canada now. Inflation was out of control due to previous governments printing crazy amounts of money to try to cover up for their horrible policies which had destroyed the country’s economy and driven millions into poverty. It seems that Argentines had finally had enough, and elected their new president, Javier Milei, who appears to be the polar opposite of the socialist and woke leaders that had been in power for many years.

It looks as though things are getting better for Argentina in the past 2 years since Milei was elected. He has cut spending dramatically and spoken out against the woke agenda. He recently cut around 50,000 unnecessary public sector jobs and is rapidly eliminating taxes and bureaucratic regulations that have hurt the country’s economy.

One thing here in El Salvador that’s been a bit discouraging is seeing how people toss their garbage on the beach, roadside, or anywhere. A local friend even told us that on her family’s farm last year, a cow died, and they later found over 70 plastic bags—mostly drinking water bags—in its stomach! Not sure I’ve ever mentioned that lots of people buy drinking water in little bags here, as it’s cheaper than bottles.

We visited that farm 2 years ago with our friend, and it’s such beautiful place…

It’s sad for a country with such incredible natural beauty to have so much garbage lying around. But, it’s also understandable... Salvadorans had been in a state of survival mode for several decades, with the civil war and then years of gang control, so they’ve had bigger things to worry about.

President Bukele is working to educate people on the harms of littering, and also taking steps to help with another overwhelming problem—spaying, neutering, and caring for the thousands of suffering animals.

We’ve been feeding (and neutered) these 3 stray dogs who adopted us last year, and we met a woman recently who lives up here and is happy to feed them once we’re gone. If you live nearby and know of someone who’d like a dog, they’d all make amazing pets—and guard dogs!

There are many positives about El Salvador, and I’ve shared lots of them in previous posts. We enjoy the beauty here, and we love being able to eat tropical fruit and affordable fresh seafood regularly.

We know that Argentina has its own pros and cons. And once we’re there, we’ll see them more clearly. We’ve been hearing lots of good things about its beauty, culture, and what’s happening there. And for years already, we’ve wanted to take our kids travelling around Patagonia.

We’re all feeling excited for this next adventure in the new year!

And thankful for so many gifts in our lives in the simple everyday right now. 🙏

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

¡Feliz día de Acción de Gracias, amigos!

It’s Tom’s and my 14th anniversary today.

Honestly, I can hardly believe I’m saying that!

How did over a third of my life already go by since we met…?!

Disclaimer: I didn’t have my editor / hubby for this post, so there may be mistakes—I wanted to keep it a surprise from him😅.

I wrote some of this awhile ago…and it seemed fitting to share with my readers today…

It happened again about a month ago. I’ve had a recurring dream, or maybe it’s more of a thought that comes to me in my subconscious, when I’m not fully asleep or fully awake, but somewhere in between. A few weeks ago, I was there again…

“Wait a minute! How old am I? Am I married? Do I have kids? Or did I miss my window of opportunity, and now it’s too late..?”

I suppose this was a fear I had wrestled with as I approached 29, still single, wondering if I’d remain that way forever, and would have to stifle so many of my dreams. That was a hard season.

Often a very hard season.

I’ve heard some people say recently that women are waiting too long to have kids, and are too career-focussed.

I wasn’t purposely waiting, wasn’t necessarily putting my career first. So for me, that doesn’t quite cover all the reasons behind delaying marriage and having kids, as I’m sure is the case for many women nowadays. For some of us, waiting till our thirties to have children wasn’t necessarily something we outright chose—it was much more about waiting for the right man, or at least waiting for a GOOD man.

I’d had a few relationships in my 20’s, but the last one at 28 had left me broken and wounded. It was mostly long-distance, which obviously can be challenging. We’d met on a Christian dating site, and he had put on a good show whenever we’d visit—about every 3 months—for almost a year, during which time I was in nursing school. Then, when I finished and moved halfway across the country to his province, I realized he clearly had some anger issues, among other issues.

Observing his family, I could see why. His father was distant, and his mother was an alcoholic. As I wasn’t one to give up easily, I stayed there for a few months, but I soon realized it wasn’t the life I wanted.

I remember that summer, being 28, and returning to my hometown. I was so broken, and frankly, depressed. I felt like my heart had been ripped out and stomped all over.

And so, I vowed to take half a year and just HEAL, no possibility of dating. It was definitely what my wounded heart needed. I got some much-needed counseling too. I’d been thinking I should just do another missions trip. I’d already done 5 in my 20’s. But, through counseling, I realized I didn’t need to “run” from my problems.

I still thought I probably needed to eventually move to a bigger center to find a man. My hometown of just 5,000 people had few if any single men my age with similar values, so there were slim pickings you could say!

Someone told me,

“You should meet this guy I know…he needs a bit of work, but…”

Haha. Yeah…he sounds great, but no thanks!!

I knew I’d rather be single than in THAT kind of relationship. Sounded like a waste of time!

My mantra became…

If all else failed, and I didn’t find “Mr. Right,” I was going to do something meaningful with my life, like working with underprivileged kids or women around the globe, maybe even starting an orphanage. I’d seen so many people who needed help on my various missions trips, and I yearned to do something for them.

BUT, deep-down I’d always wanted to be a mom, even from the time I was a little girl. As a 4-year-old, with my dolls (and my baby brother), being a MOMMY had been my dream.

My sister would say, “I want to be a doctor!” and I’d chime in, “I want to be a mommy!”

There’s a new trend online of “trad wives” and maybe that’s sort of what I am now. I do lots of the traditional mom-roles these days. Cooking, cleaning, baking, homeschooling…

But, I’ve noticed many of those women are popping out babies every year or 2—wow. And having as many as possible. Not sure I could have done that! And, that’s not quite what I envisioned either.

I have a lot of respect for women like that, and my grandparents were part of that generation—they had 10 kids. My mom was number 6, and helped to raise her younger siblings. My parents had 5 of us (I’m number 2), which was an all-consuming job for about 35 years!

But, I just knew that having THAT many kids wouldn’t work for me…and I’d struggle with constant overwhelm.

But I seriously digress…sorry, friends! 😄

Soon, my 6 months of healing time was nearly up, I was on the mend, nearly 29, and still wondering if I’d EVER meet someone who treated me like I was worthy of love and kindness.

I’d all but lost hope that this dream would become a reality.

In fact, I still remember my roommate at the time saying, “There’s still HOPE. Don’t give up on your dream…”

I clung to those words…and that bit of flickering hope. And within a month, I met Tom…

…while shopping for mittens.

Yes, you read that right!

I had planned to go skiing with a friend the next day, and realized that the mitts I had were pretty much useless. So, it was already dark out when I ventured out to find some replacements. It was early January of 2010, so it was getting dark already by 5pm.

When I got to the little sports shop, I saw a cute young couple—he had a beard, she had light blonde hair.

“Ugh, ANOTHER cute, happy couple. And I’m soo single…and almost 29!” I thought.

I guess you could say I was in a bit of a funk at the time.

I told them I was sorry to be in their way, as I looked at the limited selection of mittens—they were clearly looking for mittens too. They laughed and she said that they were probably in my way too.

Suddenly, he recognized me from when we’d met briefly at our mutual friends’ church a few months ago…and he said hi and explained that he remembered me.

Then he said, “This is my sister, Tanya.”

Haha, we still laugh that I thought they were a couple!

We spent the next several minutes chatting, and he asked me for my number, saying he’d like to come check out my church sometime. Yep, that was the pickup line! 😊

I’m beyond grateful that I met Tom and we became good friends in early 2010. He was that friend that made my heart skip a beat for a couple months at first. And then we had THE talk that would change everything.

We started planning hikes, walks, and whatever else we could do to spend more time together.

I quickly realized he was possibly “the one.” He checked all the boxes—and I mean literally, because I had made a LONG list. By the time I was 29, I guess I knew what I was looking for!

One day as we were chatting, Tom said he wanted to learn Spanish and travel in Latin America.

I got goosebumps.

That was something on my list.

It was so much fun getting to know each other that first year. Late nights talking over rooibos tea, road trips, hiking mountains together, bike rides around the perimeter trail of our small town, cooking dinner together, so many evenings playing Settlers of Catan, and even fishing together…not that we ever caught much—haha!

And then came the day in December when he got down on one knee on a frozen lake, pulled out a sparkly ring, and asked me the BIG question. It was surreal. Eight months later, we tied the knot, with family and friends all around.

Since then, life has not been all “happily ever after”—we’ve had lots of challenges, many differing opinions, lots of crazy adventures, and so many changes. Some seasons have been tough. Some disagreements have been painful. But we’ve worked through each one, not always agreeing—sometimes agreeing to disagree. And, each time we’ve faced challenges together, we’ve come out stronger, and today our commitment to each other is that much deeper.

We’ve welcomed 3 beautiful girls into our lives, experienced so many firsts together, had countless adventures, and we’ve now spent 3 years in El Salvador.

I went from working part-time as a nurse for the first 10 years we were married, to now being a stay-at-home mom who homeschools my kids, which I never thought I’d say.

Thank You, God…my heart is full, and dreams have come true! 💗

Life is beautiful, and oh so unpredictable.

Happy 14th Anniversary, my love!

🎉❤️🥂😘

“Why is there salt in the ocean?”

“Why do people use plastic if it’s so bad for the environment?”

“Why does God let bad things happen?”

“Why are there so many bugs?”

I think questioning everything keeps kids filled with a sense of awe and wonder.

I stopped questioning everything at some point in my life. I’m not sure when that happened, or if I was trained—you know, in elementary classroom settings, or in a family with 5 kids—to stop asking questions and just accept…

After all, it does make things easier for the parents and teachers involved, if kids just obey—do the task at hand—without questioning why!!

And yes, I understand that sometimes kids need to stop questioning and just do the thing. I get that there are times when this is vital. Obviously, sometimes asking questions ISN’T appropriate. Like in a dangerous situation where you tell your kid to “STOP!” and they’d better stop NOW, or they’ll get hit by a car!

I want to encourage my kids to ask questions and be filled with awe at the world around them.

But what happened to me, and most other adults of my generation?

We live in a time of SO much propaganda. Way too much. It’s exponentially worse than ever before, I think. And it’s programming us to believe what we’re told, and just go along with things.

The public school system has been designed to get kids to do this…just stop asking questions, and listen to the teacher.

Growing up in the 1980’s, they told everyone that margarine was BETTER than butter, and they probably spent many millions on that campaign, but also made billions as a result.

“Margarine is a plant-based product which is lower in cholesterol, and SO much better for your heart.”

Huh..?! It took many years for people to wake up from those lies. Margarine and processed seed oils are causing untold health problems. Sadly, many people still haven’t figured this out. Why would they lie to us?

My mom eventually realized she’d been lied to, and started buying butter instead. She also stopped buying canola oil and switched to extra virgin olive oil (or other healthy alternatives) around the same time.

A few weeks ago, my daughter read the ingredients on the baking powder container out loud.

“Corn starch, Sodium bicarbonate, sodium aluminum sulphate…”

“Wait, WHY is there aluminum in the baking powder, Mommy? I thought it wasn’t good for us…”

Aluminum in baking powder?! Isn’t that a toxic metal to humans?! Not quite what I’d assumed would be in there—isn’t a baking product supposed to be something relatively healthy, since we EAT it..?? Ugh. I didn’t even think to look at the ingredients at the store. Apparently you can’t even trust that your baking powder is safe.

Oh, and in El Salvador (and many places) we can’t even buy organic wheat flour. Ok, maybe you can, for $20 a pound, in a little specialty health food shop. But I mean for regular use, without breaking the bank. We CAN get the kind sprayed with Round-Up (glyphosate)—a toxic herbicide. Yes, it’s a herbicide that also acts as a pesticide—it kills almost ALL of the microorganisms in the soil. And in many places, even Canada, it’s sprayed directly from airplanes onto huge fields of corn or wheat.

Bitcoiners have a saying:

I started asking way more questions when my kids were little.

What’s in this baby food? Or this toy? Or this medicine? How could that impact my baby or my toddler? What’s a healthier choice here? Why do they put so many unhealthy products (even heavy metals) in baby foods?

I’m thankful I had the time to make my babies their “baby mush” when they were little. I’d typically just mash up whatever we were eating for dinner, freeze it in ice cube trays, and they’d have snacks for the next few days.

Unfortunately though, I didn’t realize that the vaccines I let my kids have as babies and young kids had mercury and / or aluminum (and many other questionable ingredients) in them…until Covid happened.

That’s when many of us did a deep-dive and realized the truth.

There are some past mistakes I wish I could undo. But we did the best with the (limited) knowledge we had at the time. There’s a song that says,

“I wish that I knew what I know now when I was younger…”

Don’t we all feel this way at times?!

It’s such a balancing act to be aware of what’s in our food and our environment, while at the same time not going overboard with paranoia and worry. And living “stress-free” while also living “awake” and aware of what’s happening in the world we live in. There is so much evil in the world to beware of, but at the same time there is still so much good to be experienced.

And as far as our kids are concerned, I’m NOT saying we shouldn’t tell them to be wary of strangers or to be aware of what they eat.

There’s a fine line between giving them the tools they need, while also protecting their sense of wonder and excitement for the world they live in.

Tom and I are trying to find a balance, a healthy place for our kids, between those 2 extremes.

About 6 years ago I went to the store, Winners, to buy some sheets for my oldest daughter’s bed. I picked up a cute polyester set and bought it because, well, they were pretty sheets. But once I got home, I asked myself,

“Wait, what exactly IS polyester…?”

So, I looked up polyester…and found out it’s actually a plastic-derived product. Wow, somehow I didn’t know that until then.

So, we wear clothes made from plastic particles…?! And people even sleep between plastic sheets.

Yikes.

I promptly brought them back and exchanged them for some cotton ones, thankful I hadn’t opened the package, and feeling relieved that I could get some sheets made from natural fibres. Here’s a photo of the beautiful cotton quilt my sister made for my oldest daughter.

Also, packaging. We’re constantly being told things like “low fat” and “low cholesterol.” But who decided fat and cholesterol were so bad? Believe it or not, people with the “lowest fat” diets are usually less healthy than those who get GOOD fats. Like butter, not margarine, lol!

Ironically, many of the so-called healthy products of our time are making diseases like diabetes and heart disease worse.

But, not to worry, there are drugs and surgeries for all of these health problems thanks to modern medicine.

Do I sound bitter…?

Once you start to look beneath the surface, you start to question everything you’ve been told. And so we should!

But, why do we have to spend so much energy trying to avoid toxins…?! Is there some kind of evil agenda behind all of this?

Like I said, my kids have a sense of wonder at the world—it’s refreshing and quite frankly, it’s so beautiful. It’s hard for me to remember when I had that as a child too.

How do I protect their sense of wonder? Sometimes Tom and I get talking in front of them about all the BAD in the world—poisons in our food, evil governments, the woke agenda, etc.

Have I been jaded by all the evils in this world?

Honestly, it takes a certain amount of effort for me NOT to feel jaded and on the alert for the next thing that will be thrown at us these days.

Unfortunately, I’m sure many of us still have a sort of PTSD after Covid, the lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and all that craziness!

I was talking to a lovely Canadian woman a few days ago who is here with her vaccine-injured son, trying various things to help him heal. We were discussing some of the things we’ve realized in the last few years. She mentioned how she often has to stop herself from going down too many “rabbit holes” or she feels too negative about the world we live in.

I can fully relate!

Here’s a Bible verse I often remind myself of…

When I take my kids for a walk, and I look at the world from their perspective, I see new and amazing things. I remember that feeling of awe and excitement for life I used to have. And I let go, putting my head and my heart in that space of awe and wonder.

And I well up with gratitude.

I took my phone on my morning run the other day. I was determined to take a few photos. Normally my 3-km up and down the steep coffee farm trail to the river takes me about 30 minutes. This one took over an hour. I was looking for beautiful things. And if anything, I found more than I’d hoped for. Maybe I don’t look around enough and appreciate the wonder of the day-to-day gifts.

I know I can only do so much today. But what I can do is be grateful for the things we have, and continue to dig deep about how to keep my family as healthy as possible. And, that includes living in a place where we can be protecting our kids emotionally and spiritually too.

So, I’m here today, in El Salvador, thankful for all we have, and doing what I can to navigate life with the knowledge that I have.

God, please give me wisdom…and also reignite my wonder. ✨

It’s been awhile!

I spent a week in Mexico with my mom in early June. It was combined with a dental vacation on my part, so I had no idea what to expect. I’d decided after doing some extensive (holistic) research to have my 2 teeth with root canals taken out—I’d learned that dead tissue shouldn’t stay in our bodies—and replaced with dental implants.

It turned out that we had plenty of time to explore too. The 7 days we had together provided some much-needed reconnecting time…and many adventures. I’ve included several videos in this post, as I love the music and dancing part of the culture of Mexico.

We had some great conversations, catching up after so much time. Phone calls are just not the same. And we only disagreed a few times, mostly due to our differing perspectives on Latin American security and safety. Yeah, I guess I have been living here for almost 4 years already, so I forget what it felt like at first, and that I’ve always had Tom at my side! BUT, even those disagreements ended up bringing us closer in the end. 💗

I believe that there’s a special bond that mothers and daughters share, even as adult women. And after almost 2 years apart, I sure needed that visit.

I had booked my flights to Cancun in late April, and Tom suggested I invite my mom. I told Mom I was going and that she was welcome to join me. Her initial reaction was to laugh, and say, “You must really think I’m a world-traveler!”

Well, my parents HAD just gone all the way to New Zealand for a whole month earlier this year to see my youngest brother, so, I guess I did!

But, not giving up too easily, I replied, “Just think about it, maybe even pray about it. I’d love to spend some time with you, if it works!”

I was ecstatic when, just a few days later, my mom told me she was coming—she’d booked her flights! It was by no means an easy journey for her to get to Cancun—3 flights, 2 big layovers, and almost a full day later, she arrived. And one flight was even a “red eye” flight, so I considered my mom pretty adventurous!

My hour and 40 minutes of flying during the day seemed like nothing in comparison! Needless to say, I was relieved and excited to see her come out of the gate when she finally did.

Unfortunately we got scammed that first day at the airport. Because it’s a long story, I’ll spare you ALL the details. A woman calling herself an airport helper convinced me to take a shuttle from the airport to our Airbnb. Before leaving, we tried to pay (multiple times) with each of our credit cards, and each time the driver said it didn’t go through, claiming the wifi was down, or: “You must’ve used the wrong pin for the card.” But just this past week we realized they charged our credit cards for each of those times—ughh! We’re now in the process of reporting them and getting our money back.

But, we made it safely to our Airbnb, a cute little house with palm trees and a pool in the front yard.

Upon arriving in Cancun, I’d never used Uber on my own before, but it came in super handy in the big city—a lot cheaper than taxis, and so quick and easy! I was so thankful to know some Spanish, and had lots of opportunities to use it on this trip. It was good practice to have conversations with the local drivers whenever they were chatty.

That first night, we got ourselves some Mexican SIM cards, picked up our groceries for the week, and grabbed a few beef tacos from a little street-side stand. Then, we came back, chatted awhile and called it a night.

In 2021, Tom and I stayed with our kids about an hour south of Cancun in Puerto Morelos. We avoided spending time in Cancun, other than a day trip to see the aquarium. **If you haven’t read our story of leaving Canada when I was fired as a nurse, you can find it in this post.

My mom and I ended up spending a few hours at the aquarium too, later in the trip. The tropical fish are beautiful, and the dolphin show was pretty amazing!

Being in the same part of Mexico again was nostalgic. It was easy to get to places like the Tulum ruins and the nearby cenotes (“sen-O-tays”), Playa del Carmen, and Puerto Morelos for just a few dollars by bus. All of which we did, despite my lack of great planning!

My mom wanted to accompany me to the dentist each time I went, and was my much-needed moral support and even my advisor a few times. She always engaged the other American or Canadian patients in conversation, and we made a few short-term friends who often returned when we did, as most of them had just a few days to get things done too.

At my first visit to the dentist, they did x-rays and told me I’d need bone grafts after having my 2 root canal teeth removed. So because I saw a few minor red flags, despite asking lots of questions beforehand, I did a bit more research and decided to change dentists, to another one that looked more holistic, just down the road.

The dentists and assistants were super helpful—explaining everything in detail, asking my preferences, and providing transportation to and from the clinic, and even to the airport on the last day.

After the first visit, we walked down the street and found a hidden gem—down some stairs was a little seafood restaurant on the lagoon where we enjoyed some delicious shrimp tacos and some much-needed conversation. A huge iguana came by to say hola and just chill near our table.

Then we walked across the road and over to a beautiful little white sand beach. Since we have mostly black sand in El Salvador, I’d forgotten how nice white sand is—and it doesn’t burn your feet! We rented a couple reclining chairs with an umbrella for an hour for 150 Mexican pesos—$7.50 US—worth it to not be roasting in the sun at 3 pm! The ocean water was an incredible bright turquoise, and so refreshing.

We discovered that the ADO buses were modern and comfortable and incredibly cheap. So we did a couple short road trips using those and the little colectívo vans that pick you up at random places. We took one to Puerto Morelos and enjoyed the beach there one afternoon.

A group of traditional Mayan dancers came and did a ceremonial dance while we were there.

My mom and I decided to do a road trip south to Tulum on Sunday, where we spent the night at a cute little hotel. Because it’s low season, it was a great deal, AND the room they gave us was HUGE—like having 2 whole suites to ourselves!

The following day, we planned to see the beautiful beach ruins and go to some of the amazing cenotes—underground water pools formed by an ancient river chain that runs deep in the earth. Both of those things proved highlights of the trip.

The ruins had been upgraded since last year, and now instead of walking so far in the heat down the long roads, they have little shuttles that take people around. They’ve also added some informative signs about the history of the Mayans and the significance of these seaside ruins for the ancient people, which enhances the experience.

There seemed to be iguanas everywhere on the old buildings that day.

It was my third time in Tulum, but it’s probably my favourite ruins, simply because of the bright turquoise ocean being right there next to the ancient buildings.

From there we’d booked a tour—snorkelling with sea turtles. So, we walked down the beach and found a cute little restaurant, with tables in the sand and shade from the sun.

We sat and sipped some refreshing drinks and enjoyed some tasty burritos before finding our tour guide. The boat ride out to the reef with several others was scenic, and we were so near the ruins that we took a couple photos with them in the background.

Then, a bunch of us grabbed our snorkels and jumped in. The reef itself was a bit underwhelming. It looked more like the ocean bottom was covered in algae than the beautiful coral reef that the tour salesman had described. But, there were a few sea turtles below us, and then I saw a sting ray moving along under me. I wasn’t sure how I felt about swimming 10 feet above a sting ray! 😬

“Ahh, cool! But, please—stay down there and move along!!” I thought.

I looked over as my mom eased herself in using the boat’s ladder, and then swam towards me. Just then, a sea turtle with stunning orange and white designs on its shell came right up to the surface just a few yards away from us. Since I didn’t get a photo, here’s one of a similar turtle.

This was Mom’s first time snorkelling, and she was a bit hesitant, but put the snorkel on, after I briefly coached her on mouth breathing. I was proud of her for trying it—she typically prefers not to get her face wet. She looked around under the water a few times, but didn’t end up seeing any other turtles, so we were extra grateful for the one who’d come up so close to us.

We got back to shore and walked up the little road to where we caught a shuttle back to the ruins entrance. There we found a colectívo to take us to the 3 cenotes that the tour salesman had recommended. I was hopeful they wouldn’t disappoint. It was a short drive to where we got dropped off at a sign that read “Cenote Yax-Muul.”

Then we paid a guy with a rusty old van—he appeared to be the only option available—to take us down a bumpy road 10 minutes through the jungle. We were quickly greeted by our energetic guide, Alan, and told to put our things in a locker. He was excited to show us around, and as soon as we walked down the steps to the underground pool, we were in awe. What a breath-taking place!

Cenotes are a natural wonder of the world—underground pools created from rivers deep in the earth. Because they’re considered sacred, Mexicans protect them and keep them immaculately clean. The water is mineral-rich, cool, and incredibly refreshing. I was so thankful my mom got to be in that magical place with me—she’d never experienced anything quite like it, and I can’t say enough about how spectacular it was!

I conquered some fear when I saw there was the opportunity to repel down into one of the cenotes. Using a harness and a rope in hand, I had to lean back and trust…and it was great fun! Besides, every once in a while I need to overcome some fear…and let go!

Alan, our guide, was such an animated character, talented at making various animal noises…

On the way back up to Cancun, we stopped in Playa del Carmen, walked down to the beach area, and saw another Mayan dance near the beach. Then, as we sat for a bite to eat at a restaurant along the street, these dancers came out and entertained us with a traditional Mexican dance.

What a day—ruins, turtles, cenotes, and now this—my heart was bursting! 💖

On the last evening of our time in Cancun, we decided to take a ferry over to Isla de las Mujeres (island of the women). It’s a beautiful place, and we each enjoyed a massage—thanks to a couple of ladies who work above the restaurant where we ate our lunch.

Coming back, it was amazing to sit on the second level of the ferry, and take in the sunset along with a talented live musician.

This week was packed full of much-needed, special time connecting and exploring with my mom. And, I know I wouldn’t have been nearly as adventurous without her! We felt God’s protection over us in several ways during our week—we didn’t get sick at all, even though we ate some street food that first day, and ate out several times. And, even though we got scammed at the airport with the shuttle that first day, we never got lost, or felt like we were in danger.

I’m so grateful for my mom’s friendship and support, and the time she took to spend with me. For the record, I’m far from being the perfect daughter…especially during my teens and early twenties. But, my mom has always forgiven me and loved me, and we’ve managed to maintain a close relationship. She has helped me through some of the darkest seasons of my life, and we’re close today because we always work through our differences.

Going to Mexico this time around took some overcoming fear. I’ve never travelled in a Spanish-speaking country without Tom until this little trip. And my mom had to overcome a lot of fear to come down to Mexico from Canada—especially being her first time, and going without my dad. She says she felt God’s protection over us many times along the way. And I did too. I’m so grateful for that amazing week—I’ll always cherish the special memories of it, whenever I think of our Mexican adventures together!

Thank you, Mexico! 🇲🇽

And thank you, Mom! 💗

Once again, we’ve had a few busy weeks. Let’s see…with new guests coming every week or so to the Airbnb, we get supplies, prep it, and it always seems to need repairs or upgrades, so Tom oversees all of those. Thank goodness his Spanish is almost fluent now, so he can carry on complex conversations with local tradesmen. The 2 owners were here in March and April at separate times with their families, so we had some special visits with them, and met some of their lovely friends and family who came here with them. The girls also had some much-needed play time with their friends on the beach.

These days, our mornings in the mountains are filled with science, writing, math, and an online history course the girls do together. Our afternoons are usually spent on hobbies, reading, or creating things. It’s amazing how often the girls have new ideas—the other day, it was an obstacle course, and then a spa for Tom and me, complete with foot soaks, cucumbers on our eyes, and a massage. One of my girls also had a gnocchi recipe as part of her geography lesson on Italy, so we made GNOCCHI for dinner one evening…a bit of a mess preceded this photo, but it was fun and so worth it 😋…and we also figured out how to say it: “nyo-ki.”

As for my hobbies—other than baking or dabbling in art—I’ll often take out my sewing machine and repair torn clothes, or make little things like shopping bags or pouches. But recently I took on a big skirt-making project—pictured below—I’ll get to the story behind that in a minute…

When you hear the word homeschooling, what comes to mind..? For me, a myriad of things. My first experience with homeschooling was when I was 9 years old, starting grade 4. I remember my sister and me, in the dining room, sitting at the big sturdy desks our dad had made us, alone with our workbooks for hours. About 2 weeks in, my parents moved my desk into the sun room…because what 9 and 11-year-old don’t want to chat and distract each other all day..?!

Meanwhile, my mom was downstairs, busy helping my 5-year-old brother learn to read and write, and supervising our 3-year-old brother as he played and coloured. Unless we really needed her, we were on our own upstairs. The plus-side was that my siblings and I would be done most of our work by around noon, so we had lots of free time—other than a bit of piano practice and taking care of our chickens and rabbits. Here’s a photo I dug up from around that time of us 4 kids sledding with some of our neighbour friends. I’m the one in the yellow toque.

In the beginning of grade 4, I remember not knowing how to study. I was 9, going on 10, and had been in a small Catholic school where I’d never had to study much of anything…other than a weekly spelling list and memorizing my multiplication tables!

Suddenly, I had to take tests in subjects like science and history every few weeks. And, I’m ashamed to admit this, but—being transparent here—I cheated on some of the first few tests. 😔

Yes, the answer keys were accessible, I felt desperate, and I was sneaky enough that no one noticed…but God did..and I knew. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I couldn’t keep this behaviour up. My conscience was bothering me SO much that I couldn’t even sleep at night. And so, I determined I’d learn how to study. Once I did, my life got much better, and I could sleep again.

I’ve told my girls this story because I want them to ask me for help when they need it. And also because I think our kids should learn from our mistakes whenever they possibly can.

As a mom, I never had a deep desire to homeschool my kids. They loved their private school in Canada, and they all had great teachers and close friends. Leaving that school was one of the hardest things about our “escape” from Canada during the Covid madness of 2021. Here’s a photo of Show and Tell when our middle daughter had me bring our huge, gentle giant Saint Bernard-boxer for her class to see. They loved her!

I have a friend who’d been homeschooling all 3 of her kids for a few years, and she’d told me how challenging it could be. I took mental notes, and told myself I didn’t want to do that, if I could avoid it. But, suddenly our life took some major twists and turns, and I found myself thrown into it, when we left Canada in the fall of 2021. If you haven’t read the story of why we left Canada, it’s in this post.

There are so many reasons to homeschool nowadays, and please don’t get me wrong—I’m NOT saying it’s not worth it! Hmm…was that a double-negative?!

Not at all—in fact, I’d encourage you to try it, especially if it means saving your kids from being indoctrinated into gender ideology or critical race theory, being bullied, or getting sucked into a bad peer group.

Some days it’s been smooth sailing, and I wonder why I’d ever complain. But, other days it’s tiring, I feel stretched, and sometimes I wonder if it’s worth it. There are times that my buttons are pushed, my emotions surface, and I have to take some deep breaths to regroup.

But, teaching my kids at home has had so many moments of fulfillment, and there are lots of perks, such as not needing to do the mad rush in the morning and having so many opportunities to teach from nature and from everyday life opportunities that arise.

But it can be hard.

Ok, I FINALLY said that.

I know I’ve written a few times about how fulfilling and beneficial homeschooling can be. While I still stand by that for many aspects, I think I’ve failed to mention that there have been countless days of frustration and even tears—especially if my kids are overtired.

It can be so hard to keep some kids motivated when they don’t have classmates that they’re in competition with. Maybe that word sounds unhealthy, but I think a bit of competition can actually be a good thing. When you’re 6 or 8 or 12, and you see that someone else in the class is already done their math lesson, or your friend across from you is halfway through, that can be motivation to keep going…and to keep up.

And then there’s the aspect of my girls wishing they had friends around them. My middle daughter values friendships highly, and for her this has been the hardest part about not going to a regular school with friends. She has often recounted the camaraderie she and her friends had in Kindergarten. That’s the only school year she completed in Canada. She still tells stories of their antics and the games they’d play together at recess.

We’ve been homeschooling since we left Canada to go to Mexico almost 4 years ago. It’s been a learn-as-we-go kind of approach. And we’ve been blessed to find some great resources along the way. The girls have an amazing curriculum now, which includes online videos explaining new math concepts for each lesson.

Recently though, our girls asked us if they could attend a local school on the beach. Some of their expat friends had started going there in order to improve their everyday Spanish. But because we now live almost an hour away, it’s not feasible to go 5 days a week. We worked out a plan with the director for them to go once a week to become more fluent in their Spanish.

In El Salvador, schools tend to start at 7am. That’s 1-2 hours before most Canadian schools start! But, on the plus-side, that means they’re done by noon. Our girls are used to getting up around 7, so with the one-hour drive, they need to get up by 5:30 on the days they’re going to school with their new friends.

Our youngest was pretty nervous about going to a school with all Spanish-speaking kids. But on the first day, within a few minutes, she was embraced by a bunch of friendly, chattering little girls, all eager to touch her golden hair, hold her hand, or share something with her. She barely had to say anything besides, “Hola,” and she’d made friends. I’d never seen such friendly kids. My other girls felt the same way. Salvadoran kids have a gift when it comes to hospitality. 😊 Now they’re all asking if they can go twice a week…or, “How many days is it till Monday? I can’t wait to go to school again!!”

And as for the sewing project—when we went to purchase the girls some uniforms, they didn’t have the skirts, only the fabric. And so, for the next few days I found myself sewing a LOT. Each skirt took me about 3-4 hours. And the girls were ecstatic about getting their skirts made—I couldn’t sew them fast enough!

Even though it’s challenging for the girls to be part of a class with ONLY Spanish being spoken for 5 hours, they all LOVE being part of a group of kids their age. In fact, they all wish they could be attending the school full-time! Hopefully in the next year or so we can make that a reality for them wherever we find ourselves.

Tom and I think this shift—providing our kids with a way to have friends and spend time with them while also learning another language—has been a win-win. Our kids need friends, they need to learn Spanish, and they also need time to explore, create, and play. I’m thankful they can get a bit of everything these days 😅

I’ll keep you all posted!

See you soon…😊

¡Nos vemos pronto, amigos!

Hola, amigos 🌞

I wasn’t going to write a post yet, but I had a bit of an epiphany the other day…and wanted to share this simple but possibly profound thought…

We went on a waterfall adventure last week. I drove my girls down the mountain, and we met up with a small group of our friends for a little jaunt into Tamanique Falls. It’s a spectacular place, with many different falls of various sizes in multiple directions, surrounding pools of refreshing mineral water. We’ve been there several times in the last few years, and it’s one of our favourite places in El Salvador. And it’s only about a 30-minute drive to get to the little town of Tamanique. From there, it’s an easy, 45-minute walk downhill. You need to pay a guide $8 each to go with you, even though it seems unnecessary if you’ve been there before. But it’s always a good opportunity to practice speaking Spanish with a local.

We walked down the road, and then took it slower going down the hillside trail with its rustic stairs. We had to slow down near the bottom where the stairs are steep and there are cables at arm-level to grip to avoid falling forward.

As soon as we arrived, our group of 6 kids 4 adults jumped in, excited to cool down. We all enjoyed the mineral-rich, clear agua near the base of a huge fall basking in the sun, water, and incredible rock formations around us.

We ventured up a bit higher from the first pool, only to find another natural pool with waterfalls coming into it as well. This one had rocks near the falls at different heights, where you could jump in. I left my phone below, so I don’t have photos except from the lower pools.

There was an older woman, enjoying the water, swimming around, clearly in her element. It looked like her 2 sons were with her in the water. And sitting by the water pool, with her feet in the water, was a younger woman. But she wasn’t present.

And it struck me—this woman only had eyes for her phone. I sat about 20 feet away from her, watching my girls and the others jump in from a nearby rocky perch, psyching myself up to do the same. At this point I suppose I was a little distracted by this woman.

There’s no cell service here. How is she this obsessed with her phone out here?!

She held it near her face as she pursed her lipstick-coated lips and opened her eyes wide for another selfie. Changing her angle, and flipping her hair, she posed for another, and another. I crept past her on the rocks, wanting to join my girls and our friends on the other side of the pool by the falls where they were jumping in. She paused momentarily, not wanting me to obstruct her background.

We enjoyed another hour of jumping in to the water—some of our group from about 20 feet up—splashing around, and relishing in the beauty of nature by the waterfalls, and then headed back up the trail.

I realized later that although I’d judged a distracted woman, I should actually be judging myself…

Just because I wasn’t on my phone at the falls, I’m justified in judging someone who was?! But…I struggle almost daily with addiction to my phone.

It’s true. I let it take my time away from my kids, my husband, and sometimes even nature, being alone with my thoughts, meditating, praying, or just some deep thinking.

Mostly I’m addicted to it at home in the afternoons or evenings when I’m tired, and tell myself I deserve this me-time. But then I let it be a substitute for time with those who matter most to me…or even let mindless scrolling be a substitute for reading a REAL book or having a REAL conversation.

All this to say, I’m becoming more self-aware.

“Hi, my name is Emily. And I’m a cellphone addict.”

I’m starting to make a conscious effort to just put my phone down. Put it on airplane mode more. Let go of obsessing about messaging my friends or checking certain websites or watching videos. Stop scrolling. Social media doesn’t have the answers I need.

What can I do about my addiction, when my brain wants more dopamine hits from scrolling? Set limits for myself. But I also have to remember that my kids will only be young for so long…and if my husband is beside me, am I giving him my full attention when he’s talking?

All I have is today. There’s no guarantee any of us will have tomorrow.

Here’s the chorus of a song that comes to mind that my sister and I used to listen to about 30 years ago…

Seize the day – seize whatever you can.

‘Cause life slips away just like hourglass sand

Seize the day—pray for grace from God’s hand…then nothing will stand in your way.

Seize the day.

—Carolyn Arends

One final thought…I wrote about Abél in my last post, our gate guard who was recently killed in a motorcycle accident. The other day I was asking another guard, Mauricio, how old Abél was. He told me he was just 56. Wow. As I continued on my morning walk, I was pondering…

“How do we ever know when our lives will end? When I was younger, I often wondered if I’d die young. I could still die next week, or even in the next few years. But, I could live to see my grand babies…

But, it struck me again—TODAY is ALL I have. How will I live it?

Carpe diem, mis amigos.

Until next time…🕰

Hasta la proxima vez…🙏

Seize the day…and let’s be present with those we care about…today.

💚💚💚💚💚